Michael and Ciaran Tynan took outright victory on last weekend’s Cavan Navigation Trial which was based out of Crosskeys Resource Centre. Clerk of the Course Sean McConnell ably assisted by Anthony McDonald laid out an 80 mile event that covered a huge area between Stradone and Finnea. Last weekend’s winners of the Midland Navigation Trial, Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor were seeded number 1 and lead the pack off at 21:01. From Timepoint 1 at Corbeagh crossroads, it was immediately into the first farm lane of the night. This lane, which was just shy of two mile long brought crews through the townland of Aghavaddy and up to TP2 at Killynanum. At TP2 a plot and bash box tulip diagram was handed out for to direct crews to the unknown location of TP3. The box tulip was rather straight forward until near the end, when some boxes were switched around and navigators had to figure out which box came next. TP3 was located on a farm lane at Grellagh, and it was here that a second tulip was handed out. Competitors received an upside down herringbone tulip which brought crews to TP4. TP4 was located in a farm opposite the end of the lane that TP3 was located in. From here it was down another short farm lane to TP5 witch was located only a two hundred meters away in the public road. This opening section didn’t throw up any problems for the Expert crews apart from some people dropping time. Further down the field the less experienced competitors did struggle with the quite complex P&Bs. Six crews missed TP3 and a further nine missed TP4. A short trip over the road and across another farm lane lead to TP6 at Leiter. Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan would miss this TP and then receive a wrong approach at TP7 to ruin any chance of an overall win. Surprisingly, quite a few competitors were caught out at TP7, which was located at Carrickaboy crossroads. To get the correct approach, crews had to travel a farm lane Denmore. Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan were another Expert team to receive 15 marks for taking a wrong approach here. TP8 was located just a hundred yards away to the west, but this TP had to be approached via yet another farm lane at Carrickaboy Glebe, with only one minute allowed to reach it. Another farm lane at Aghadreenagh had to be taken on the way to TP9 to avoid arriving at TP10. TP9 was on a farm lane at Drumcrow and after leaving the TP, competitors had to turn left at a T junction before doing a short loop on the public road before arriving at TP10 and departing up another farm lane that joined the lane that TP9 was on. The ITC section began at TP12 located at Shannow Lower just south east of Ballinagh, and it ended in the village of Finnea on the southern bank of Lough Sheelin. Control B, the halfway mark of the event was just over the road. At this point two crews were still holding clean sheets, with both Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan and Martin Tynan/David McCrudden getting through the first half unscathed. Next up was Dalton/Treanor, down 1 mark from the ITC section. Darragh Kelly/Oisín Sherlock were also down 1 mark from arriving late to TP6.
The second half of the event was slightly more open with longer distances between the TPs. TP14 was located at farm buildings down a grey lane at Ballynascarry while TP15 was located at the end of a separate grey lane at Cullendragh, and it was here that the third P&B was handed out. This time a list of gridlines was handed out for to reveal the locations of TP16 and TP17 as well as the correct approach to Via 2. TP16 was located at the start of a grey lane at Clontyduffy Nugent. After reaching this TP competitors had to travel down a cow lane a Pollakeel for to reach TP17 with the correct approach. National Championship leaders, Derek Butler/Denis O’Donovan’s night came to a premature ending just after this TP as they would burst the radiator and break some steering components on their Subaru. The next few TPs after Via 2 were relatively straight forward as the event headed up to Crosserlough before proceeding back towards Slieve Glah. The last P&B was handed out at TP26. This P&B consisted of the location of TP27 being muddle in with plots for some other TPs and a trace diagram on the back of the sheet. TP27 was located at the end of a road goes at Corriga and the trace diagram revealed that the location of TP28 was at the end of the farm lane at Grellagh, which had been used at the start of the night for TP3. Once TP28 was dealt with it was just the small matter of going to Via 3 and then traveling back down the very first lane of the night, this time in the opposite direction for to reach TP29. In the end team Tynan managed to hold onto their clean sheet despite all the hardship McConnell and McDonald could throw at them. Tynan/McCrudden had held their clean sheet up until they dropped a minute figuring out the trace diagram at TP28, but luckily for them they won the further cleanest tiebreaker over Dalton/Treanor as both crews had finished the event on 1 mark. In the classes, Tynan/McCrudden finished 1 st Expert, with Dalton/Treanor 2nd and Kelly/Sherlock finishing 3rd . Jack McKenna/Patrick Corcoran won the Semi- Expert class, finishing on 9 marks. Finishing 2 nd in the class, and only 3 marks behind was the Donegal pairing of Darragh Kelly/Eamon Doherty. Aidan Keenan/Sean Marron finished 3 rd in the class on 12 marks. Shane Maguire/Ciaran Maguire finished 1st in the Novice class, finishing on 18 marks, with Phillip Smith/Conor Smith finishing 2 nd on 25 marks. Declan Tynan/Ben McIntyre had to settle for 3 rd in the class as they lost a further cleanest tiebreak over Smith/Smith as they too had dropped 25 marks. Martin Swinburne/Gretchen Swinburne had a commanding win in the Beginner’s class, finish on 25 marks. They were on for finishing on just 10 marks when they unfortunately received a wrong approach at the very last TP of the night. World Rally Championship competitors Craig Breen/James Fulton made a surprise entry to the event, and they finished 2 nd in class on 87 marks. 3rd in the class went to Ciaran McGorman/Aaron McGorman who finished on 90 marks.
The final round of both the National and Border navigation championships takes place on Saturday night the 11 th of March with our own clubs March Navigation. First time COC’s Shane and Ciaran Maguire have laid out an 80 mile event based out of Ardaghy hall. Regs and entry are available now.
