The Killeshan Hotel in Portloaise played host to the awards night for the 2012 Connaught Competition Engines National Hillclimb and Sprint championship. With a great night had by all, the awards got underway with Hillclimb Committee Chairman, Tommy Murphy, on the mic. Those who collected awards were:
Class 1 sponsored by the Daly Family
3rd was Brendan Dawson in his Honda Civic.
2nd was Trish Daly in her Mini.
1st was Elaine O Reilly in her Mini powered by beans and chips for the year (sorry Elaine they were on the menu for the night).
Class 2 sponsored by Galway Motor Club
1st was Declan Cundelan with a clean sweep of the points for the year. Surely there are more class 2 cars in the country to bring a fight to him next year.
Class 3 sponsored by Quinn Motorsport
1st was Ian Quinn in his MiniBusa. Ian also got the Spirit of the Championship for his year.
Class 3b sponsored by Donegal Motor Club
2nd was Neil Anderson in his ward.
1st was Rory Stephens in his Radical.
Class 4 sponsored by the Motor Enthusiast Club
3rd was Frank Nutall in his Ford Graham. 2012 was a sad year for the sport, as Frank retired from Hillclimbing this year.
2nd was Mick O Shea in his MGB.
1st was Bernard Foley in his MGB.
Class 5 sponsored by Wexford Motor Club
2nd was Gerard O Connor in his Formula Vee.
1st was Eugene French in his Formula Vee.
Class 6 sponsored by Carnew Tyre Centre
2nd was (the big man himself) John Mahon in his DJ.
1st was John C Byrne in his Jedi.
Class 7 sponsored by Crecora Mills
3rd was Deirdre Delaney in her Reynard who had a great year with great things to come for her.
2nd was the bale man Dermot Nolan in his Reynard who will be looking strong for next year.
1st was Paul O’Connell in his Pilbeam. Unfortunately Paul couldn’t attend on the night, due to the christening of his baby girl Kate. Congratulations to Paul & Ciara.
Class 8 sponsored by Carlow Car Club
1st was Georgie Bell in his Honda Civic.
The Tom Pendervile award went to Aidan Courtney. Munster won the Interprovincial award which went to Senan O’Connor. The Colin Bradley Memorial award for sportsman of the year went to Sean Murray. The Dick Bailey award for the best run Hill of the year went to Wexford Motor Club collected by Philip Cullen, well done to the Wexford Motor Club team.
Overall awards
3rd with a great drive this year and good things to come for him was Joe Courtney.
2nd overall was Simon McKinley who pushed hard all year and just came up short.
1st overall and the 2012 champion was Sylvie Mullins who had a great year.
And finally our sponsor for the last 3 years Phil Price said goodbye to us to make way for a new sponsor but we all hope to see Phil make the trips over to compete and for the craic in years to come.
The new sponsor for 2013 will be John Naylor of Naylor Engineering and we all welcome him on board for the new year and we hope to see you all at the 1st Round next year.
Article by: Brendan Harpur, Championship P.R.O.