Derek Mackarel & Conor Boylan took overall victory on last weekend’s Cavan Navigation Trial, Round 7 of the National Night Navigation Championship & Round 4 of the Border Navigation Championship.
The pair negotiated the 80-mile route 7 penalties clear of the opposition. Martin Tynan/Fintan Clerkin boosted their Border hopes with 2nd overall with the Semi-Expert crew of Shane Dalton/Seamus McTigue finishing a fine 3rd overall.
COC Thomas Wedlock mixed some old with the new with the first half of the event in familiar territory near Maudabawn before moving to some new terrain near Shercock. The first half of the event was fairly straightforward until a plot & bash section at TP15 & TP16. Any crew who overshot the intended lane would pass within 50 metres of the timepoint and there were some surprised faces at the finish who incurred double visit penalties. By CB, all crews were down time penalties but there was only a handful of penalties separating the top 10. A herringbone tulip diagram covering three timepoints would decide to the event. A multitude of ‘roads’ within very short distances of one another meant any slight deviation from the intended route would result in some very confused navigators as they attempted to get back on track. A number of crews missed timepoints here and those that did get them dropped considerable time.
Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan faired best to take the lead and they negotiated the remaining miles unscathed to take the event win on 9 penalties. Martin Tynan/Fintan Clerkin dropped 13 penalties on the plot & bash section but importantly got all the timepoints to move into 2nd place. Semi-Experts Shane Dalton/Seamus McTigue secured 3rd overall on 17 penalties with class rivals James McCabe/Shane Farrell just behind in 4th on 22 penalties. 5th overall went to another Semi-Expert crew of Bob Graham/Ryan Treanor.
Local men Aaron & Ben McIntyre took victory in the Novice class and 6th overall. Aiden Keenan/Sean Marron & Francis McElvaney/Danny McKenna completed the podium. Damien Hagan/Ryan Farrell took victory in the Beginners class.
The Navigation seasons concludes with the Monaghan Navigation Trial on Saturday 4th April. Cork crew Derek Butler & Denis O’Donovan have won the National title while the Border title is up for grabs between a number of crews.
Top 10 Results:
1st Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan (Subaru Impreza) 9m,
2nd Martin Tynan/Fintan Clerkin (Subaru Impreza) 16m,
3rd Shane Dalton/Seamus McTigue (Subaru Impreza) 17m,
4th James McCabe/Shane Farrell (Subaru Impreza) 22m,
5th Bob Graham/Ryan Treanor (Subaru Impreza) 31m,
6th Aaron McIntyre/Ben McIntyre (Subaru Impreza) 45m,
7th Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan (Subaru Impreza) 47m,
8th Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes (Subaru Impreza) 63m,
9th James Fitzgerald/Ken Carmody (Subaru Impreza) 66m,
10th Aiden Keenan/Sean Marron (Subaru Impreza) 72m.
County Monaghan Motor Club 