The Irish Universities Athletics Association held its annual indoor track and field Intervarsity Championship in Athlone on Friday 6th February, with 65 athletes competing in 300 events, and DUHAC athletes travelled down from Dublin to represent Trinity.
Although DCU continued their dominance in both male and female competitions, having won gold for the last number of years running, Trinity came in with several strong performances. UCC and UL – like DCU, familiar names at the top of the pecking order in recent times – filled the remaining two places on the podium. There were several notable results from the women’s side of the competition as far as Trinity is concerned.
Sarah Fitzpatrick and Sorcha Humphreys came 5th and 6th in the 3000m final (with times of 10:19.87 and 10:36.80 respectively. Anna Hymanson finished 8th in the 1500m final (in 5:32.70), as did Catriona Twomey in the Combined Events category, while Agnieska Aziewicz, Sophie Courtney, Sorcha Humphreys and Sinead Kelly also finished 8th in the 4x200m relay (with a time of 199.55). Aziewicz also came in 11th in the Long Jump.
There were also a clutch of decent results for TCD’s men on Friday. Rob McDowell grabbed bronze in the 16kg Weight for Distance event and also finished 7th in the 60m final (his time being 7.11). Colum O’Leary came 10th and Samuel Kinirons 18th in the 1500m final (with times of 4:18.23 and 4:36.96 respectively), O’Leary also came in 11th in the 3000m, alongside Donal Foley in 16th (finishing in 9:12.14 and 9:36.03 respectively). Amr Darwood, Kevin Migge, Tadgh Healy and James Sinclair-Ford collectively finished 6th in the men’s 4x200m relay (their time being 95.13).
Ola Bademosi came 17th in the Long Jump, while in the Pole Jump Conor Bermingham and Cristopher Doherty finished 4th and 5th. Karl McCabe, Conal Campion and Rob McDowell stuck together to finish one after another – 7th, 8th and 9th – in the Shot Putt. Overall, Trinity finished 11th in the male side of the Intervarsity Championship and 14th in the female events.
Although the chances of breaking DCU’s hegemonic dominance of the Intervarsity Championship may be slim, Trinity’s results provided evidence that, particularly in the men’s competition, there is something to build on looking ahead to the coming years.
Correction, 14/2, 10:25: An earlier version of this article contained incorrect results for the competition in question.
Photo: DUHAC