Husband and wife rally duo fastest in Mayo

Typical Irish March weather in the west of Ireland may have dominated the Mayo Stages Rally on Sunday last but the heavy rain allowed John Warren and Ruthann O'Connor to exercise their supreme talent in atrocious conditions.

The husband and wife crew, fresh from their win at Galway International Rally a few short weeks ago, battled the narrow roads of North Mayo, where at times their green McHale Machine resembled a speed boat rather than a Rally car!

"You could not do anything," said John, a design engineer from McHale’s in Ballinrobe. "There was standing water in places meaning the car just aquaplaned, and where there wasn’t water, it was just either mud or shinny tar, there was no way you could use full throttle."

"The conditions were incredibly difficult, even with the correct rain tyre,”added Ruthann. “We were maybe just a bit too cautious going into the corners on the opening loop and that's where we dropped a little bit of time to fellow class 13 driver Aaron McIntyre from Cavan but it was important to still be in the running as our main goal was to be top local crew to finish the rally and reclaim the Margaret McGreal Award, as Margaret was a dear friend to us before her passing in 2015.” 

Not only did the South Mayo crew finish the event in style in 16th place overall from over 150 starting crews, they claimed second place in Class 13 behind aforementioned McIntyre, most but importantly put their names once more on the Margaret McGreal Cup, they also brought home the coveted Eddie O’Hora Award and Ruthann once again was Top Female home, securing a hefty points haul for all the Championships.

“I have to once again give John credit,” said Ruthann. “He had burned the midnight oil over the last while making sure the car was properly ready and after this result the importance of the preparation he puts into the Fusion 4 Corolla is worth it. We’re over the moon!”