The Co Monaghan Motor Club 2025/26 Gary Nesbitt Navigation Championship and the overall Traders Championship began last weekend with the Drumlin Navigation Trial. The 2024/25 national champions Ryan Treanor and Shane Dalton organised a mammoth 120-mile event in the area between Roslea and Aughnacloy. The Drumlin navigation attracted an entry of 36 starters as it was also a counting round of both the National and the Squealing Pig Border Navigation Championship. Last season’s Gary Nesbitt Navigation Championship winners Conor Mohan and Michael Carbin were seeded car 1 and led the competing crews away from the Slíabh Beagh Hotel, Knockatallon at 21:01 on Saturday night.
The first four checkpoints were straight forward, even with having to travel through Knockatallon cross and a manned stop sign three times for Timepoints (Tp) 1, 2, 3 and 4. This section also included a Via enroot to Tp3. Tp4 and 5 were located in the Stramackilroy forest, though the two timepoints were located just a few hundred metres apart, they each required two separate passes through the forest’s challenging gravel tracks. Tp6 and Tp7 were located at each end of the Derrynasell West forest. The event from this point onward got very technical as the next fourteen checkpoints were all in the same area on the map which made competitors maps very muddled and navigators had to be extremely careful not to accidently arrive at checkpoints twice or out of sequence.
In the middle of this maze, was the first two of the events eight Supplementary Route Instructions (SRI). At Tp15 competitors received an intermediate Herringbone Tulip Diagram to lead them to the location of Tp16. Once they reached Tp16, they would receive another instruction to guide them to Tp17. The route to Tp17, involved using an unmapped lane and a river crossing to reach the safety of its location. The difficulty of this section is evident from the results sheet, as every single competitor acquired lateness penalties (marks) or missed one or both checkpoints entirely. Control B (CB) was where competitors could catch a brief break from the plethora of checkpoints in the same area as the event began to move toward Carrickroe.
The first Speed Regularity Section (SRS) began at Tp21 in Feebaghduff. This section was timed to the second, travelling at 28mph average speed and brought competitors to Corryarbeg. The last part of the SRS would pass by the location of TPs 37, 38 and 39, Tps that wouldn’t be used for a number of hours yet. The events third SRI was received at Tp26. Here competitors had to draw out trace diagrams to reveal the location of Tp27 and Tp28. It was vital to draw both trace diagrams before leaving Tp26, as Tp28 was located on the shortest route to Tp27. Tp29 and 30 were back on the pre plotted route, before it was time for CC and CD at McAnenly’s Service Station. The events second SRS began at CD and this time it was set at 30mph. It brought the event towards Davagh cross. The secret check car was located at Fort Singleton, where a private lane that followed the same contours of the public road was the most inviting to travel. Anyone failing to keep on the public road would inevitably receive a ‘wrong approach’ at the check car or, drop considerable average speed correcting themselves. This trick was a nightmare for many as only four competing crews avoided acquiring marks on this SRS.
Another SRI was collected at Tp35 for the location of Tp37. This Clock Face Diagram brought crews to Killylough. It was vital that navigators plotted its location on their map as its location was on the shortest route between Tp37 to Tp38. Anyone failing to notice this would inevitably pass through this checkpoint again and receive a ‘Double Visit’ mark. It was up over Bragan mountain now for Tp42 through Tp50. Another SRI was received at Tp44 (Rock Bridge). Here competitors received a poem Seamus Heaney himself would be proud of. Hidden in this six-verse poem was a ‘Spot Hight’ (Location) and the approach and departure for the Tp. The penultimate SRI was collected at Tp50 to reveal the location of Tp51. At Tp51 the final SRI was received. For Tp52, competitors had to travel under a washing line between a dwelling house and a garage to join an unmapped lane to the TP. Unsurprisingly, all competitors were hung out to dry here as every competitor either didn’t find the TP, dropped a lot of time or were over their maximum allowance of 15 minutes lateness.
At the end of this challenging event, it was the 2024/25, Squealing Pig Border Navigation Championship winners Evin Hughes and Pakie Duffy who took a well-earned victory by 3 marks over Conor Boylan/Derek Mackarel. The Co. Donegal pairing of Ciaran Coyle/Shane Laverty finished in 3rd place. After the awards were presented, both the Clerk of the Course Ryan and the overall winner Evin thanked all the residents along the route, landowners and marshals for making the event a huge success. They also thanked the staff of the Slíabh Beagh Hotel and the people who looked after the results and the catering during the event.
Top 10 Overall
1st Evin Hughes/Pakie Duffy (Subaru Impreza) 76m,
2nd Conor Boylan/Derek Mackarel (Subaru Impreza) 79m,
3rd Ciaran Coyle/Shane Laverty (Subaru Impreza) 109m,
4th Greg Shinnors/Andrew Mackarel (Subaru Impreza) 135m,
5th David McCrudden/Peter Deery (Subaru Impreza) 140m,
6th Conor Mohan/Michael Carbin (Subaru Impreza) 144m,
7th Anthony McDonald/Sean McConnell (Subaru Impreza) 166m,
8th Aidan Friel/Charlie McMonagle (Subaru Impreza) 168m,
9th Ben Mohan/Damien Hagan (Subaru Impreza) 203m,
10th Patrick O’Leary/Trevor O’Callaghan (Subaru Impreza) 211m.
