DCU Sports Team Success in the Inter varsities
10 March 2005

DCU Snowboarding Club won the 2005 irishsnowboarder.com

February was a successful month for the Sports Teams at DCU with Athletics and Snowboarding winning their respective inter varsity competitions.

DCU Athletes on form in Belfast.

The Intervarsity Cross Country Championships were held by Queens University in Belfast on Saturday 27th of February. The course was really testing with an unforgiving hill, known a heartbreak ridge, but the DCU athletes could not be deterred; only the hearts of rival teams were broken on the cold ridge this year.

The women's team took total control of the first event; it was a 4K race with one shot at the gruelling hill. The early pace was fast and the majority of the DCU team stayed in the mix through out the first lap. On the second lap second year student Fionnuala Britton really pushed out the pace, early leader Suzanne McCormick (QUB) began to lag behind and DCU athletes Linda Byrne, Niamh Devlin and Louise Reilly came through approaching the daring hill. As the athletes came off the ridge, shaken but strong, it was clear that Fionnuala had the title in the bag, but the race wasn't over behind. Linda, Suzanne, Niamh and Louise battled on to fill the minor positions finishing in that order. With such a tremendous performance the DCU ladies took the team title with a magnificent score of twelve points. Well clear of UCD and Trinity, with 61 and 62 points respectively.

The men, as always, had a hard act to follow and as always they did not disappoint. There were some minor worries in the camp before the race due to injuries but all these disseminated once the athletes took the course. The boys attacked the ridge four times, each time that bit more painful, that bit more energy sapping. A trojan performance by all involved; running smart they held back on the first lap with only UCD looking like they could mount a challenge. In the end Mark Christy stormed away with the race, well ahead of Joe Sweeney from UCD. Eoin Higgens ran a great race to come in third and he was backed up by Ian Chaney in fifth and Colin Costello in sixth. David Campbell and Aidan Bailey ran strong to complete the team and a landslide victory for DCU, with almost half the score of the nearest rivals. DCU 58pts, TCD 114pts, UCD 115pts.

It was a great days work for DCU athletics and begs the question what else can this team achieve? DCU inevitably took the overall title, and at this early stage it looks like it could be retained for years to come. This is the third year the DCU ladies have won the Cross Country Inter varsitiers and the second year that the men took the trophy. Irish Intervarsity Athletics is at risk of becoming known as `DCU Athletics' and what harm!!

The DCU Snowboarding Club won the 2005 irishsnowboarder.com Ski and Snowboarding Intervarsities at Kilternan, in their first ever attempt at the prestigious competition.

With a live DJ, barbecue and drink a plenty, the 2005 Wintersports Intervarsities at Kilternan on Saturday February 26th , co-hosted by DCU, turned out to be an overwhelming success - especially for our representatives from DCU. The DCU team walked away as clear winners of the overall "Winning University Award", claiming victory in all but one of the separate events.

Over 50 skiers and snowboarders from their respective universities competed on the night but none came close to matching the merits of the DCU guys and girls. Trinity College, UCD and DIT all pitted their best against the newcomers from the "dark" side but despite some stiff competition and lots of big talk it was the newbies who strode away with their noses in the air, despite the weight of the solid crystal award!!!

The hoards of red hoodies again gathered outside the hub for a trip to Kilternan at 4pm, but this was one with a difference as we were all to find out. Team members were in good spirits on the way there but also apprehensive about what to expect from the other colleges. The first events were the beginner and advanced snowboarding slaloms. The DCU beginners team of Lisa Mullaney, Brian O'Reilly, Clare Glancy and Anto Losty ran out easy winners of their race despite Brians elegant tumbling with style during his first ever attempt at a dry slope.

Next up was the advanced snowboarding slalom race, where again the DCU team took top honours. This time it was a lot closer in the final though. A special congratulations here for Keith Plummer and Barry McSweeney as they took part in the advanced race, even though they were both eligible for the beginners discipline. After the other college teams had all been disposed of, it was down to an all DCU affair for the final despite stiff competition from DIT in the semis. An extremely closely contested final ended in victory for the team of Liam Printer, Peter Linnemann, Junaid Faruq and John McGuinness.

Once the snowboarding races were over it was time for the skiers to take centre stage. Unfortunately the DCU team was narrowly pipped to the post in a photo finish against Trinity in the semi-final. Led by our superb ski racer Helen Reidy, the team moved ahead swiftly as she ripped apart the competition ... however Trinity's last member of their relay squad somehow managed to nip past our last racer, dumping our skiers unfairly out of the competition.

In the final event the best of the competitors took to the slope one last time for the eagerly awaited "Big Air - Slopestyle Open Category Event". The course comprised of one large jump, a smaller jump and a large curved rail to finish. Once everyone had completed their two runs, the judges retired. After an hour or so of deliberations the results were announced ... [it was a DCU 1-2-3 (Shaun Lawless, Liam Printer, Peter Linnemann), meaning that without any doubt we were deemed overall winners of the 2005 Ski and Snowboarding Intervarsities.

The DCU captain, Joseph Coughlan, was presented with the solid crystal perpetual trophy. The Snowboarding Club are now aiming high for theNational Snowboarding Championships on the 1st of May 2005.