Harvest Rally 2024 stages will thrill and excite says COC John Crumlish 

Ahead of the Donegal Harvest Rally 2024, Clerk of the Course John Crumlish says three unique stages will add real excitement to the one-day event. 

County Derry man Callum Devine - Donegal International Rally winners back in June - will look to defend his title in two weeks time, Saturday, October 12.

Declan ‘Milkman’ Gallagher, who took the modified title in the same race in early summer, is also the defending Harvest modified champion. 

Speaking at Friday night’s event launch at the event’s host venue, The Orchard Inn, Letterkenny, Crumlish detailed what drivers and spectators can expect. 

“We have had 220 entries but we can only run 160 cars, unfortunately,” he said. “So there are going to be a lot of disappointed people. We’ve three very good super stages - each run three times, so nine stages in total. 

“One of those hasn’t been used in 20 years called Ardrumman, in Ramelton. It’s only eight km long but it’s a serious stage. The other stages are Trentagh and a variation of Carnhill.

“It’s something different, they are very exciting drives. Donegal, I feel, always leads the way in motorsport. We’re the biggest club in the country and we try to run the best rallies we can. And the entry list we have shows the serious interest that’s there.   

“We have a brilliant team and committee. To be fair to all our club members, any help we’ve asked for we’ve got. 

“We need 160 marshalls on the day in what are very busy areas. So we’ll refuse no help from any club member that can come out. We want to make the rally and the event as safe as possible - that’s the main aim”.  

With Devine competing in the Cork International Rally this weekend, media duties were left to ‘The Milkman’ Gallagher on Friday night. 

The Ardara native has thrilled in his Toyota Starlet for so many years but looking at his entry list there’s going to be a change of vehicle this time out with Gallagher and navigator John McCarthey stepping into a Ford Fiesta R5. 

“The Starlet has been so good to us down through the years but we’re looking to do something different,” he explained on the change of vehicle. 

“It’s another great event - and with the stages that are there - it just whets the appetite. The Harvest Rally… drivers come to race. Stages like Ramelton, that’s where I’d have watched the likes of James Cullen growing up in his Sierra Cosworth. 

“So the countdown is on now and the excitement will start to build from here on in”. 

The complete entry list is