Scale Gala 2009
By Dessie Owens
Photos from this event can be viewed in the gallery -- click here.
On the 6th of June last we held the 2009 Scale Gala. We modelers never seem to catch a break with the weather and considering the previous weekend, we could not have been more unlucky. Either way we and our competitors battled on bravely and an enjoyable and jovial event was held.
Modelers traveled from as far as Cavan starting out as early as five o’clock in the morning to get to the competition. It was a pity that more competitors did not attend but that is their loss and ours. These events are supposed to about competing and a gathering of like minded individuals for a day of banter and enjoyment.
With Eamonn Keenan competing in F4C I was witnessing flying as good as any I have seen from Eamonn especially considering the windy conditions. Even with no competition in this class he gave a great display and was in spirited good humour as always throughout the day, keeping us all amused with his anecdotes and stories, thanks Eamonn.
In CLUBMAN there was tough competition for the top spot with Liam Butler with his YAK 54 just beating our own Andy Ryan flying a Cub. The conditions made it very difficult to fly a high wing plane such as the Cub with great precision and grace, but great efforts were made by Andy.
But in NOVICE there was James Murphy who would have given anyone in Clubman a run for their money with his PC9 which seemed to be flying in calm conditions. I hope that James will attend the Nationals and possibly enter Clubman. If he does watch out as he is a rising star.
Overall a good day was had and plenty of food on the Barbeque all day. The competition basically ran itself as all knew what to do. Many thanks to our competitors and Judges especially Steve Quigley. Also many thanks to our club, and members, for allowing us to run this event and others. There appears to be very few clubs willing to do this, I wonder why? Yes there is quite a lot of work involved but I for one, will be there again helping, if we host another scale event next year. So maybe make the effort and travel to an event this year before it’s too late.
| Pilot | Class | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Final Score | Place |
| Eamonn Keenan | F4C | 1216.0 | 1417.0 | 2620.50 | 1st | |
| Liam Butler | Clubman | 1470.5 | 1664.0 | 1567.25 | 1st | |
| Andy Ryan | Clubman | 1326.0 | 1359.5 | 1342.75 | 2nd | |
| James Murphy | Novice | 1511.0 | 1360.0 | 1435.50 | 1st |