THE Reenascreena crew of Seamus and Aoife Ronan (Honda Civic) are one of the few husband and wife crews competing in the Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally, with Rossmore born Aoife one of some ten female co-drivers amongst this year’s line-up.
It really doesn’t faze or bother her that it’s a male-dominated sport, but she’s not alone – there is Timoleague’s Michelle Sheehan and Leap’s Amy Gallwey. ‘Before events, we speak with each other and on events we chat during the service halts. Of course, we have a good chat after the event.’
On co-driving for her husband Aoife said, ‘We trust each other and I am very confident with him in the car as a driver. We get on great.’
Not surprisingly, in the lead up to the rally, there is scarcely anything else discussed in the Ronan household.
‘It dominates every meal and everything else, we just love it. The excitement in the house is great, even with our three children, Colin (7) and five year old twins Darragh and Liadh. They will even have special jackets for the weekend with Ronan Motorsport printed on the back,’ Aoife said. Seamus added: ‘It’s been six years since I did the West Cork and I am really looking forward to it. Two years ago I bought Jason O’Mahony’s Honda Civic. We did the Cork ‘20’ last September, finishing third in class and we were fourth in the Banna Rally where we won the Johnny Whyte Cup as the best-placed West Cork crew and that was very special. The local stages are great and while people wave at us, you have to concentrate on driving. This is our eighth West Cork Rally. It’s always very special.’
