2005 - The year it all began!
The 2005 4X4 CHALLENGE FOR CHARITY took place on the weekend of 1st and 2nd October 2005. Teams started gathering in Limerick on the Friday night at Finnegans Bar, Annacotty for a pre-event chat to get to know one and other. Saturday mornings start was at 8am with a driver briefing and a quick inspection of the vehicles by our scrutineer Dermot ‘Stock’ Walsh. One or two teams had to sort out minor glitches with their vehicles before being allowed to start the event but this was all part and parcel of what turned out to be an unbelievably successful two days.
The event is in essence a large scale ‘Treasure Hunt’ using 4x4 vehicles and Ordnance Survey Discovery Series maps. Some entrants did not even know what a grid reference was let alone how to use it when they started on Saturday morning. They did by 5pm on Sunday!
From Finnegans teams were sent out at 3 minute intervals to begin the Challenge of finding hidden marker boards and answering questions along the route. Equipped with maps, road books, highlight pens, roamers, rulers, torches and enough food to feed an army they headed off on a route plotted to take them off-road at every opportunity. Although a large part of the route is on tarmac much of this is only single track narrow lanes with a green stripe up the centre! The first section of map work confused the hell out of most entrants with many struggling to get out of the car park. Devious is a word that was used to describe the organisers Jonathan and Robert on more than one occasion. They had given the entrants a jigsaw puzzle of maps and an acetate with the route traced on it! Match the acetate to the jigsaw of maps and you were off to a good start. Fail to identify the start point on the maps and you were left scratching your head and cursing the marshals.
Nick Hitchcox and Phillip Cloherty our intrepid photographers positioned themselves at strategic points along the route waiting for the vehicles to arrive and be photographed in their way to Co Cavan. This provided us with plenty of photographs of the event and the basis of an article which appeared in the Irish Times later in October.
Killaloe saw the first mechanical failure almost wreck the chances of continuing for Bryan Kelly and Dennis Butcher. Bryans Discovery engine decided to give up after only a couple of hours into the event and saw them stranded at the road side. A quick call to Jonathan who was able to direct fellow organiser Robert to the stricken team led to a 50 mile round trip for Dennis and Robert to collect Dennis’s Discovery from it’s parking place the other side of Limerick! Team 1 were back in action and making up ground by way of a re-route, issued by the organisers to bring them back on track. This breakdown was to prove costly in their scoring on day one and had it not happened they would have placed much higher overall. Some compensation was at hand in that they managed to come first on Day 2!
The early stage of the event took in Limerick and Clare and saw the teams report to the Aillwee Caves in the afternoon to be checked through and onto the next stage of the journey to the Plains of Mayo and the overnight stop at a campsite in Co Mayo. Teams were able to set up tents and feed themselves prior to being sent out again on a night navigation exercise that tested their navigation skills further. A river crossing provided some extra excitement for entrants and photographers alike. The ford was approached along a fairly straight section of road with a sharp right hander dropping into the river which was running about 18 inches deep. Every vehicle stopped as soon as they saw the water and the surprised occupants surveyed the obstacle before venturing forth into the black water. One nearly didn’t make it across having engaged 2nd gear but not low box and entered the water a bit too quickly. Fortunately the driver was able to stop and regain engine power after a momentary cough and splutter from the diesel. A check on the air filter housing the following morning revealed traces of water having entered the housing but fortunately no damage was done.
During the day the team of Pat Lynam and Kevin Stone suffered a setback when Pat fell ill and they had to withdraw from the event with Kevin driving Pat home to Co Westmeath. At about 7pm Kevin rang organiser Jonathan to see if it was in order for him to return with his wife Margaret as navigator and resume the challenge. The beauty of this event is the spirit of the entrants and when asked Jonathan had no hesitation in agreeing. Jonathan was very surprised to meet up with Kevin and Margaret later that evening as he had expected them to arrive back in the morning. They had driven straight to Mayo as soon as they could and slept in their vehicle overnight ready to resume the following morning. Now how many wives would be up for that?
The event is definitely not a race and the entrants were well briefed on this point. The importance of travelling at a sensible place was emphasised by the team of Vincent Knight and Peter Biddulph in a 1974 Series 3. They couldn’t go any faster but managed to score so highly on day one that had they actually done the night navigation section they would have won the day by some margin. But, so many hours at the wheel of a Series 3 took it’s toll and they de-camped to a local B&B for a well earned night of comfortable sleep. Apparently the Series 3 isn’t great for sleeping in!
Such were the navigational skills of Eamonn Mooney and his ‘Navigator’ Terence that they wound up lost in a field sunk to their axles and had to winch themselves out. The only team ever on a navigation event to turn it into a winch challenge! Oh how we laughed! They did however achieve first place on Day 1 which surprised Eamonn more than anybody.
Sunday morning dawned and the first stirrings of life around the campsite came as the stoves and kettles rattled into action to feed the hungry campers. Some had spent a few hours after the night nav in the ‘clubhouse’. Yes there was a convenient bar in the campsite. It may have been the wares of the bar that gave one team the spirit to play a practical joke on a few of the organisers and fellow entrants by tying 3 or 4 cable ties to vehicle propshafts. This produces a ticking or knocking sound which varies with speed. The perpetrators have been identified and various means will be employed over the next year to achieve payback!
Road books for the day were given to the teams after a briefing and the challenge began it’s final stages by heading for the mountains around Lough Allen. Navigation in these parts proved critical as many new tracks and trails have been added to the landscape since the maps were printed. Many teams found themselves backtracking to confirm their position and continue on the journey. Nick the photog suffered a puncture on top of one of the mountains and was helped out by a couple of teams including Kevin and Margaret Stone. This proved to be a clincher as far as the organisers were concerned when awarding the ‘Spirit of the Event’ award at the dinner that night.
The final section had teams driving over Bencroy heading towards their destination and a well earned drink in the bar of the Slieve Russell Hotel and a prize-giving dinner. The grins on the faces of all who entered showed the enthusiasm of the teams for an event that is here to stay.
“When can we do it again?” was a familiar question from many in the bar that night.