French duo Leap-ing the navigational ladder

BY MARTIN WALSH

LEAP’S Ciarán French (25) was always destined to become involved in motorsport and, in particular, navigation rallying. It’s been part of a family tradition.

‘I enjoy it,’ he says. ‘Along with my dad (James) we are going to night navigation events forever. I find them very enjoyable. We did marshalling and time points in the earlier years but to get competing in a car was great.’

They will compete in this weekend’s Carbery Navigation Trial that is organised by the Skibbereen and District Car Club and will be based at the Kilmurry GAA complex.

For the past seven years or so, after their debut outing on the Skibbereen 100 Isles Navigation Trial that was based at the Castlehaven GAA complex, the father and son duo have competed in many events within this spectrum of the sport. On that maiden outing they finished second in the beginner’s class. It’s a partnership that has only broken on two occasions as Ciarán elucidated.

‘Last year I did the Cork 1000 Shakes event with Padraig McCarthy and just last month I navigated for Monaghan’s Shane Maguire in the Cork Startrek Navigation Trial that was based in Araglen,’ he says.

Victory in the beginner’s class in Inchigeelagh brought progression to the novice category. Further progress up the ladder to semi-expert and expert levels await. ‘Competition is stronger in the novice section even though there were a good few competitors in the Beginner’s class when we started,’ French says.

Right now, the novice section provides plenty of opposition. The role of the navigator is about plotting the route based on a series of co-ordinates issued by the organisers a few hours prior to the actual start out on the road. Although there was a trophy to mark some success on the night in Araglen, the event didn’t go according to plan as French explained.

‘We had a second in class, but it was a poor night. The radiator burst in the Subaru Impreza after Time Point 10 and we had no other option, only to visit the three controls in order to be classified. But we still got a finish on the board,’ he explains.

Living close to a network of roads and farm passes, French is very aware of the intricacies of the sport. While he is happy to concentrate on this spectrum of the sport for the moment, he has looked at his options.

‘Moving to rallying as a co-driver is on the cards but not in the immediate future. It’s in the plans down the line, but a good bit down the line and it will be nice to do it,’ he says.

When they started out together their mode of transport was a two-wheel drive Toyota Corolla. However, at the beginning of this season, they switched to a four-wheel drive Subaru Forester. On their plans for this season, French added, ‘We will definitely do the Munster championship but I don’t know about the national series, we will see.’

A strong result on this weekend’s Carbery Navigation Trial could shape a national campaign.

Meanwhile, reigning Motorsport Ireland National Navigation champion navigator Drinagh’s Denis O’Donovan is in somewhat of a dilemma. Last season, along with his Mallow driver Derek Butler they won a second national navigation title.  However, Butler, who was co-driver to Cloyne’s Tommy Cronin (Toyota Aygo), was (along with Cronin) suspended for 60 days after the car was found to be in breach of technical regulations on the Cork Forest rally last August. While those 60 days prevented Butler from competing in last month’s Cork Startrek Navigation Trial, the opening round of both the National and Munster Navigation campaigns, it now appears that as he didn’t hand in his licence to Motorsport Ireland at the time of his exclusion, the 60-day suspension has still to be completed and he cannot compete on the event. O’Donovan was driven by Limerick’s Alan Shinnors in the opening round in Araglen but the Limerick man is unavailable this weekend due to family commitments. It remains to be seen what driver O’Donovan will team up with as the Drinagh man goes in search of an unprecedented tenth Carbery win.

Rosscarbery’s Brian O’Mahony (Subaru) and his Leap navigator Amy Gallwey should be competitive along with the Mogeely/Ballincollig partnership of James Fitzgerald/Ken Carmody. Headquarters is at the Kilmurry GAA complex with the 80-mile route based on Ordnance Survey Discovery Sheet 86 (fourth edition). The first car away is at 9.01pm.