RaceJamaica.com in association with Turbo Energy Drink invites you to participate in our second navigational rally for 2010. The event will start at Quantum Concepts on 17 Holborn Road, registration opens at 9:00AM and the event will start at 10:00. We will have our grand finish at Chilitos, 64 Hope road, Chilitos is opening just for us and has a wide range of specials ($100 tacos and more) so invite everyone to participate or come support you at the finish!

A Navigational rally is held on public roads. Speeding is strictly prohibited and speed limits are to be adhered throughout the event. Each team (driver and co-driver also possibly time keeper) will receive route instructions. There will be marshals to enforce that the proper routes are used and also questions to be answered etc as part of the course.

The event is family oriented and is guaranteed good fun.

Entry fee per team will be $1500 and we strongly urge contestants to pre-register online to speed up the process on the day of the event. Online entries for the event are open here: http://www.racejamaica.com/mug-rally-entry-form/

For further questions please email us at mugrally@racejamaica.com so we can keep you updated on the progress of the event as well as additional training sessions and supplementary material.. Additional information when it is finalised will be sent to you and posted on our website www.racejamaica.com

You can enter online for this event here: http://www.racejamaica.com/mug-rally-entry-form/

You may also view this event on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=128097880534070&ref=ts

The RaceJamaica.com 2010 navigational rally series, got off to a good start on Sunday, March 14. A total of 9 teams entered, with 6 novice and 3 expert teams. Despite the challenges faced by the organisers in the final week leading up to the event, the rally was successful. The event started at 11:30 a.m. from the Upper Manor Park Plaza and ended at Chilitos Mexican Restaurant on 64 Hope Road around 2:30 p.m.

The event saw the debuting of Dmitri Dawkins as a navigational rally route setter with Peter Clarke’s assistance. Dmitri stepped in after technical difficulties prevented use of the original route instructions. The teams that entered exhibited savvy navigational skills in going through the instructions, thanks to the training some of them received prior to the rally. All was not perfect as the rally had experienced an early bump in the road when TC1 had to be relocated due to an unexpected road closure by National Works Agency (NWA) on Jacks Hill Road.

The rest of the day went as could be expected with many if not all teams making their own errors while reading the instructions, which saw the route setters being chastised for the trickery they had designed. The route took them around the Kingston area from Manor Park to Oxford Road, around New Kingston to Mona before heading down to Chilitos. Up to the third checkpoint, halfway through the event, the underdog novice team of Gordon/Dressekie-Gordon with a final score of 2310 lead the pack. This, however, did not prove them to be the overall winners of the day as the expert team of Fennell/Khan who were their greatest challengers, narrowly nabbed victory with 1970 points.

Competition was just as stiff among the other teams. The other top three novice teams of Chin/Coke and O’Reggio/Morgan showed that they could play just as well as the experts, displaying true resilience and navigational skills. The second place expert team of Moodie/Moodie who finished with 5400 points marginally beat both teams, but they succeeded to earn lower scores than the third place expert team of Khan/Bernard on 6000 points. First timers Thelwell/Powell who completed their first navigational rally happily won the lost (yes we said lost) place trophy.

In spite of the minor issues, the event went well.

We would like to thank our sponsors and supporters:

Busta Sodas

Viva Flavoured Sparkling Water

Turbo Energy Drink

Xsomo International Limited

Jamaica Property Company Limited

Chilitos

Our marshaling team and other well wishers.

Be sure to checkout our next event on Sunday June 6, 2010!

Check back for photos, they are currently being uploaded!

After years of dormancy, navigational rallying has been revived in Jamaica. RaceJamaica.com collaborating with some very dedicated race stewards, put on Mug Rally #1, which was held on Sunday March 15th 2009. The day was fun filled with everyone starting from the Boulevard Super Centre in Kingston and (eventually) finishing at Scotchie’s in St. Ann’s Bay. Simultaneously another Mug Rally, organised by the Montego Bay Motoring Club was started in Montego Bay and finished at the same location, east meeting west at Scotchie’s in St. Ann.

A mug rally is a navigational rally held on public roads. Speeding is strictly prohibited and speed limits are to be adhered to throughout the event. Each team (driver and navigator and also possibly a time keeper) received a map and route instructions. The purpose of the rally is to help boost the experience of our local drivers and navigators as well as allowing teams to see the many areas of Jamaica they have never seen before.

The event was very well received and had several attendants at the two navigator training sessions. Not to be outdone, there were new and old faces marshalling for the event. This event introduced over 10 new marshals to the sport, as well as brought back long time marshals who have not participated in many years. Without the marshals this event would not have been possible.

There were two classes of competitors, Rabbits (novices) and Hares (experts). Keith Tennant and Amador Gilman won the Hare class as well as the overall event. Both are mug rally legends and entertained the crowd at the awards ceremony at Scotchie’s with stories of previous events . Second overall and Second in Hare class went to Ibraheem Khan and Norman Bernard. First Place in the Rabbit class went to Angus Gordon and Scott Gordon, who were also third overall. Angus is also a mug rally legend and he came out for this event with his son who was celebrating his 14th birthday. Entry fee: $2500, Lunch: $800, Winning an event at your first attempt as navigator: priceless, and also not a bad birthday present.

The Kingston event started with 15 participants, however only 12 made it to the finish line. The other participants retired in frustration. After speaking with event officials, we understand that because no event like this has been run in over 5 Years, many people are either rusty or experiencing a navigational rally for the first time. The next event should be much more competitive as teams gain more experience.

This event was aimed at reintroducing fun-filled, multi-participants navigational rallies to the Jamaican motoring scene. And not only was it the first event of its kind in over 5 years, but it was also the first motoring event in Jamaica with online registration and promotion.

RaceJamaica.com would like to congratulate all competitors in the rally on a job well done, and we look forward to seeing you at the next event! Also many thanks to our stewards and marshals who played such a big role and who put in the extra time to make this an event a success! Thanks also to the many supporters who encouraged and guided us.

Please enjoy the results, photos and videos below.