In these days of greatly reduced entries on Night Navigation Rallies in Northern Ireland Enniskillen Motor Club’s Drew Wilson decided to organise a truly competitor-friendly event. 
Therefore some 16 crews, some total newcomers to this most grassroots of motorsport, gathered at sponsor Fabian McAleer’s Elite Tyres & Service depotin Irvinestown on last Friday evening to head into the dark of night on a trek into deepest, darkest north and north-east Fermanagh: the 2016 Erne Safari Rally! 
But, their weapons of choice were not what us ordinary humans would normally associate with a Safari. These intrepid rally crews adventured out in a myriad of normal road cars: from the Hendersons’ Nissan Micra to the Grahams’ Citroen Saxo with the Verners in a Vauxhall Vectra, Mervyn Wilson and Scott Thompson in a Lexus i200 [whose normal habitat is the car parks near Enniskillen town centre] plus Bryan Gallagher/Gary McGlone in a VW Passat and Drew Chambers wheeled out his little Peugeot 206 accompanied by Ian Thompson. 
There was some rally-bred machinery present with three crews in state of the art 4WD turbo machines; namely Peter Jennings with Brian Hoy in their immaculate Evo 10, Darren Flanagan with Emma Allen in a Subaru Impreza and William Strain arrived in his beautiful Impreza STI with Robert Hall on the maps. 
Mark McCaffrey wheeled out his venerable but reliable Peugeot 405 with Mattie McGowan on the maps and the youngest crew member on the night and perhaps for any Safari was 12-year old Kyle Thompson reading the maps for his Dad, Mark, in their family Hyundai Santa Fe.
As there is no N Ireland Navigation Rally Championship this year, Clerk of the Course [CofC] Drew Wilson organised a truly Clubman Rally. No need for a competition licence and those entered in Class 4 were given a marked map shortly before the start instead of the often complex route instructions normally distributed to Classes 1, 2 and 3. On the night only Classes 2 [Semi-Experts], Class 3[Novices] and Class 4 [Beginners] were on the entry list with Class 4 being by far the largest.
Veteran crew John and Jonathan Henderson led the rally away in their trusty Micra and the 16 crews then negotiated their way through some of the tight and twisty backroads that north Fermanagh has to offer before winding their way back to Mahon’s Hotel in Irvinestown just before midnight. Some 32 controls including Time Controls and Secret Checks had to be visited in the correct order and at specific times all at an average speed of 30mph to be in with a chance of winning either a Class place or the overall title.
The winning crew of Gareth and Raymond Deazley lost only two points throughout the whole rally to win by four points in their Seat Leon. Veteran driver Ciaran Carey in his Nova with James Woods navigating was second overall. Third were Peter Jennings with Brian Hoy on the maps. 
In the Class battles the Hendersons won Class 2 by a sizeable margin from John Henderson/Clifford Auld [Starlet] as Clifford was definitely a bit rusty on his first outing in quite a while. Class 3 was clinched by Carey/Woods whilst motorbike enthusiast Brian McGirr driven by his wife Aideen [Toyota Avensis] took third in this Class at their first attempt since stepping up from Beginners Class.
In Class 4 the winners were of course the Deazleys while second went to Jennings/Hoy and third was the Vectra crew of Glen and Philip Verner. Mervyn Wilson left his normal MkII Escort Sport at home in favour of more modern machinery a Lexus IS 200. But he and Scott Thompson failed to recover from too many ‘earlies’ in the first section of the rally and finished fourth in Class 4. 
Young Kyle Thompson guided the family vehicle safely home fifth in Class 4 only two points adrift: this was a first outing for both Kyle and dad Mark and bodes well for the future. We hope to see the Portora schoolboy navigate again very soon. Bryan Gallagher /Gary McGlone had a consistent run whilst McCaffrey/McGowan endured a tough time between Time Controls E and F and Emma Allen another first-time navigator had a good run marred only by being too early at many Time Controls especially the final one dropping 12 points there alone. Drew Chambers and Ian Thompson were another beginning crew glad to see the finish but promised to be back to improve next year.
Clerk of the Course Wilson thanked all the EMC members who helped him with the event especially Deputy CofC, Martin McGarrity, event secretary Wendy Blackledge and results officer Jackie Elliott. He went on to thank sponsor Fabian McAleer for his continued support for The Safari, a truly grassroots motorsport event which EMC has kept alive despite the dwindling numbers.