County Monaghan Motor Club

 

Monaghan Motor Club’s first event of 2016 takes place this Saturday night with the opening Navigation Trial of the new year. Darragh Kelly & Michael Carbin are COC and ACOC respectively. Ballinode Community Hall is the venue for the event and a route of approximately 85 miles has been put together by the organising team. The event is the opening round of the Monaghan Motor Club championships. First car is due to leave the start at 9.01pm. Marshals are required for this event and are asked to meet at Ballinode Community Centre at 8pm.

 

Midland Navigation Trial

 

The final Night Navigation Trial for 2015 took place in Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim on Saturday 12^th December. COC Seamus McTigue laid out a challenging 85 mile route around the shores of Lough Allen and Arigna village. It had been several years since an event took place in the area which presented a fresh challenge for the majority of crews.

 

It was the Longford/Monaghan pairing of Pakie Duffy & Evin Hughes who took a start to finish victory in their Subaru. The opening section which included a trace diagram caught out a number of crews and time penalties were also being dropped due to some demanding terrain. Duffy/Hughes had pulled ten penalties clear of the opposition on the first half of the event and were able to maintain their advantage in the second half despite a wrong approach. National Championship rivals, Dermot Whelton/Mark McCarthy made their trip from Cork pay off with a fine run to 2^nd overall to maintain their points lead in the National Championship. The Novice pairing of Mark Derry/Patrick O’Leary had a great run to 3^rd overall and class honours. Shane Dalton/Nigel McCloughry were 4^th overall with Richard Cassidy/Paul Phelan 1 penalty behind in 5^th.

 

Peter Farrell & Shane Farrell won the Semi-Expert class from Keith McConnan/Micheal McCluskey and Michael Carbin/Darragh Kelly. Eoghan Corr/Ruadhri Nash finished 2^nd Novice with Aiden Sherry/Oisin Sherlock in 3^rd. Hugh McBrien/Patrick Corcoran won the Beginners class from Gerry Kelly/Patrick Brides and Calvin Beattie/Martin Brady.

 

The next round of the National Championship is the Cork 1000 Shakes on January 16^th with the next round of the Border Championship in Donegal the following weekend.

 

Monaghan Motor Club AGM

 

The annual general meeting of Co. Monaghan Motor Club takes place on Thursday 14^th January 2016 at 8.30pm in the Hillgrove Hotel, Monaghan.

 

All 2015 club members are eligible to vote for the 2016 committee. Nomination forms are available to download from monaghanmotorclub.net. Nominations for appointment to the 2016 committee must be returned to the Secretary Roisin Meenagh by Tuesday 12^th January 2016. All members are encouraged to participate in the nomination process.