DCU's athletics team win team title at Intervarsity Track & Field Championships
Tuesday 1 May 2007

DCU’s athletics team

DCU’s athletics team completed an unprecedented clean sweep of all four University championships by claiming the team title at the Intervarsity Track & Field Championships April 13-14 2007. The event was hosted by DCU in glorious sunshine at the national athletics stadium in Santry.

After claiming the overall team title at the Road Relays, Indoor and Cross Country championships, hopes were high that the well-funded athletics team could produce another victory.

Masters student Mark Christie brought the curtain down on his illustrious college career by completing a remarkable double over 5,000 and 10,000 metres. Christie, who has been an invaluable asset to DCU over the last four years, took the lead from the gun in the 10,000m and never looked troubled. As he clocked off 71-second laps with apparent ease, he left UCD’s cross-country champion Joe Sweeney trailing. Christie lapped most of the field before coming home an impressive winner in 29mins 52s, almost a minute clear of his nearest rival. He returned the following day for the 5000m and eased away from the field to win in 14:45.

When DCU missed out on the team title by just 19 points at last year’s championships, new recruit Chris Crowley was seen as an athlete who could turn it around for them in 2007. The Corkman duly obliged by completing an exhausting weekend of point-scoring which saw him strike gold in the pentathlon and high jump and score 33 points for the team. Crowley, best known as a high jumper with a PB of 2.15m, jumped 6.69m in the long jump for silver and 13.55m in the triple jump for bronze. He also got third in the javelin with a throw of 44 metres and fourth in the pole vault. His efforts earned him the award for athlete of the meet.

Fionnuala Britton, fresh from her stunning 14th place at the World Cross Country Championships in Kenya, is another athlete pivotal to DCU’s success.She won the women’s steeplechase comfortably in 10:07, coming home well clear of her team-mate Linda Byrne in second. She claimed the women’s 3km the following day with a commanding performance in 9:58. Sports Science student Leona Byrne was another to win double-gold. She won the 100m hurdles in 15.69 and jumped 1.65m to win the high jump. She also turned out for the triple jump and took silver.Byrne was also part of the victorious 4x100 relay team. The team was led off by Claire Brady, who ran a storming first leg and handed over to Ailis Mcsweeney with a good lead. Gemma Hynes blasted around the final turn and handed off to Leona Byrne, who brought the team home well ahead in 48.13.

Carlow native Danny Darcy reclaimed the title he won last year in the 1500m. He sensibly backed off the suicidal pace set by Paul Pollock of QUB, and reeled him in with 400 metres to run. Darcy showed his class by storming clear on the final turn and speeding to victory in 3mins 51s, an impressive time so early in the season. Athletics Director Enda Fitzpatrick was impressed with Darcy’s run, saying: “He was calm, collected, didn’t panic and paced the race perfectly.”

Claire Brady was most impressive in winning the 200m in 24.80 from her flatmate Gemma Hynes, who finished second in 25.34. Brady was narrowly denied gold in the 100m, beaten by less than a metre by DIT’s Louise Kiernan.

Eoin Everard put injury behind him to reclaim his 800 metre title with a powerful win. Everard, who transferred to DCU from UL, cruised to the lead on the penultimate straight before bolting clear around the final bend to win in 1:52.

Other individual winners for DCU included Nicola Alcorn in the 1500m walk and Ian McDonald in the 110m hurdles.The men’s 4x400m quartet of Joe Warne, Eoin Everard, Dan Treacy and Micheal O’Sullivan brought the curtain down on proceedings in style by taking gold in 3:21.02. Other good performances on the men’s side came from Eoin McCormack who finished second in the 3km steeplechase, Eoin Kelly who won silver in the high jump and triple jump, and Eamonn Byrne with second in the discus.

Ellen Diskin ran well for silver in the women’s 800 metres, and also got third in the 1500m with team-mate Ciara Durkan ahead of her in second.

DCU claimed the overall team title along with both the men’s and women’s competition. They scored 283 points, well clear of UL in second on 203 points.

Enda Fitzpatrick, Director of Athletics, was thrilled with the team’s performance, saying: “It was absolutely fantastic. Everybody chipped in.When the chips were down, people were willing to be counted, and ultimately, to win the overall team award, that’s what you have to do.”

Fitzpatrick looked ahead to next year for DCU athletics, saying: “We’ve got to strengthen up our sprints and throws, and just continue doing what we’re doing, and further expand on the programme. We’ll have upwards of 50 athletes living on campus next year.”