Success for DCU at Cross Country Championships

This proved to be another great day for the DCU athletics team with 2 sets of team medals and the overall trophy on its way back to Glasnevin. The ladies squad were first in action and despite losing a number of key athletes (through injuries) in the lead up to the race – the team raced magnificently to take home the bronze team medals behind University of Limerick and UCC. Harriette Robinson finished an outstanding 7th, followed home by Ciara Wilson in 15th, Ciara Cummines 19th, Orla Bollard 20th, Hannah Mc Gowan 21st, Niamh Quinn 24th, Aoife Mulroy 26th, Laura Power 33rd, Aoife Laste 34th, Linda Conroy 40th, Saoirse Mc Grath 44th and Jessica Drohan 47th. As over half of the team are first year students – the girl’s XC team can look forward to some great years ahead!

The final event of the day was the men’s varsity race over 8km – David Mc Carthy (just back from injury) ran an astute race early on before kicking away to win comfortably on the last lap. Great runs by Cormac Kelly (5th) and Pierre Murchan (6th) ensured the foundation for an easy team victory – our 10th team title in the last 13 years! Great team running by Michael Carey 15th, David Scanlon 19th, Keith Fallon 21st, Oisin Gallen 25th, Matt Horrigan 29th, Kilian Gargan 30th, James Treanor 36th, Damian Murphy 37th, Glen Gaffney 61st, Thomas Delahunt 62nd, Oisin Harney 65th and Michael Malone 69th saw DCU continue their dominance.

The combined efforts of both the ladies and the men’s squad saw DCU retain the Overall Best College’s team title yet again, our 13th win in 14 years! This is an amazing achievement considering we won our first ever team title in 2003.

Log onto www.iuaa.org for all the results from the 2016 IUAA cross country at Sligo Race Course.

Next up for DCU will be the hosting of the IUAA track & field championships in Santry on April 15th & 16th, where many of these athletes and our sprinters, jumpers and throwers will be seen in action!