Colum O’Leary | Athletics Correspondent
The annual Intervarsity road relays took place in NUI Maynooth campus on a cold but clear Saturday afternoon. This year’s race was the most contested and competitive to date, with over two-hundred athletes from Irish colleges taking part. Nevertheless, DU Harriers stepped up to the challenge, with above par performances from the athletes on each of the ten teams that represented the college.
The women’s race consisted of four legs, each were laps around the 1 mile loop of the campus. Athletes on the first and last legs were required to run 1 lap while the 2nd and 3rd leg athletes ran 2 laps. Trinity made up five of the 21 female teams that battled it out for glory. The fact that only six athletes could fit in one line across the course meant that the start of the race was fast and physical. However, that didn’t affect DU Harriers athletes from performing impressively. The five teams showed courage and determination to come 4th, 9th, 16th, 18th and 20th respectively. Maria O’Sullivan’s top class form continued, running the 2nd fastest women’s 2 mile leg of the day in a time of 10:49. This combined with Irene Gorman first race back from injury, who blazed out the first mile and the impressive debut races from Sorcha Humphreys and Clare McCarthy secured 4th position for the Trinity A Team in a time of 33:01. Last year, the women’s A team came 3rd in a time of 34:26, which shows that the competition of this year’s event was brought to a completely new level, and that Trinity’s female athletes are responding to this. There was also a number of individual personal best times on the day including a great performance over the two-mile leg by Anne Linden. UCD A team took the gold.
The men’s race was arguably the most competitive national intervarsity race of 2013 with thirty-two teams taking part on the narrow campus course, including World ‘A’ standard 800m runner Mark English (UCD) and multiple national cross country champion, Joe Sweeney (UCD). The starting athletes from the 32 teams had to stay physically strong as well as aerobically strong on the narrow windy course. DCU A team were convincing winners in a time of 40:26. A total of ten teams broke the 45 minute barrier, compared to six from the previous year (which was competed on the same course in similar conditions). The four DUHAC men’s teams gave it their all to come 10th, 16th, 20th and 26th respectively. Top-notch performances from Gerard Claffey, Guglielmo Ziani, Thomas Martin and Samuel Kinirons, as well as courageous efforts from Dónal Foley and John Reidy, made it a successful and rewarding day for DUHAC.
The event was the first IUAA competition of the 2013/2014 season, which, after the performances at Intervarsity Road Relays, is turning out to be a very promising one for Trinity Athletics.
