The UCDAC mens team that travelled to Nenagh to compete in the Intervarsity Track & field Championships finished second after a dogged attempt by the 14 team members to keep up with University of Ulster who came out on top at the end finishing 8 points ahead. Ulster host the outdoor championships this year and obviously intend to achieve a home win.

It must be said that UCD were horrendously understrength with only one athlete with a Road Relays medal from November togging out in the National Indoor Arena. UCD also lost out in the jumps events with sholarship athlete Stephen Darcy being out injured. Many others were absent due to exams and commitment to other competitions (Mick Clohissey earning an international selection for the World Junior XC).

Final year Undergrad Tommy Lyons won his first Intervarsity medal in the 60m just beating newcomer Cian Aherne into 4th place. Both could do well outdoors if their seasons keep going the way they have been. In the 200m both Patrick Phelan and Simon Gaynor got out of their heats and Gaynor eventually reaching the final. Both should expect more success outdoors. In the 400m Michael Kennedy lost out to Hugo Leeney in qualification for the final. Leeney went to take a silver medal. Barry McCarron took silver in a great 800m race with Karl Fahy from Trinity. Ronan Daly donned the UCD vest for the first time in the 1500m. He missed out narrowly on a points score finishing in 7th. In the 200m walk Feargal Tansey was hopeful of claiming a title but had to settle for a bronze medal, 2 places ahead of Michael Muldoon. Vice Captain Philip Conway seemed dissapointed with his 2nd Indoor Intervarsity bronze medal in the 3000m. Considering his time last year was over 25 seconds faster he can be excused.

In a rough 200m relay in which there was plenty of jostling, UL crossed the line first but were later disqualified and UCD were promoted to first place for which they earned 10 points. Some might consider UU lucky that they were not also disqualified. Had they been, they would have lost 8 points and the final team result might well have been different. In the long jump Simon Gaynor won a surprise bronze with his final jump (which he almost didn't take). He leaped 6m32. Hugo Leeney scored a further 2 points in the Pole Vault with a personal best of 3m.

Kevin Burke, the hero of last years Indoor victory, could not participate in any of the track or jumping events due to injury. However, he could throw and he finished 2nd in the Shot (only 9cm behind Jeremy Haarper from UU) and 6th in the 56lb weight for distance. Scholarship athlete Padraig White was far away from his familiar hammer circle but managed 5th in the shot and 3rd in the weight in which only 15cm seperated the top 3. In the combined events Leeney returned for a second time to the winners podium after he clawed his way into the top 3 by running 2:40 in the 1000m (the final event in the pentathlon).

The final result left UCD 8 points behin UU and 13 points behind TCD. UL surprisingly finished back in 4th.

Full results here.

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The Intervarsity Outdoor Track & Field championships were held in Irishtown Stadium Dublin last weekend. With a home advantage and the success recorded in the Indoor championships back in December, there had been a high level of expectation amongst UCDAC members leading up to the competition. A successful Colours match boded well too with only a week to go. However, in the final stages of preparation a number of significant withdrawals left the both Mens and Womens teams uncertain as to their chances.

The first day of competition is never too significant as there are too few finals to tell much about which teams will be in the running. With further losses to the mens team occuring that day matters regarding the mens title seemed to be getting out of hand. Fields in 800m and 1500m however were relatively weak allowing Eoin Cummins to double up. Pheilim Kelly also committed to the 1500m final on the Saturday (although he would never run it due to an administrative error). Kevin Burke performed well (as expected) on the Friday, scoring points in all 5 events on his way to Pentathlon gold. Alan McCormack racked up more points in the 10000m as did Padraig White (scholarship thrower) in the Shot. The men were behind Limerick after the first day but with some strong distance events and throws to come on Saturday not all hopes were lost.

Saturday began with promise as Garrett Coughlan scored some unexpected points in the 400m Hurdles. Padraig White claimed a gold medal in his preferred event the Hammer on home turf in Belfield with compatriate Alex Fanciosi scoring a valuable 5 points in second place. Captain Ruairi O'Briain proved his metal in the Triple Jump before clearing 4m30 to take first in the Vault. Limerick scored well in those events also and after the 100m, in which UCD had no athletes, they were in the lead. UCD pulled back points then in the 800m (Eoin Cummins), the Steeplechase (Phil Conway), the Discus (Padraig White, Barry McGonagle) and the Weight for Distance (Padraig White, Kevin Burke). Limerick came back in the 200m and 400m only to have their lead diminished by the UCD walkers (Feargal Tansey, Michael Muldoon). Limerick scored full points in the 4 x 100m relay but UCD were still in front going into the 5000m with 2 high class competitors Garrett Coughlan and Joe Sweeney looking for medals. It was probably the most exciting race of the weekend as Coughlan and Sweeney shared the pace, bringing the race to their rivals. Although niether could outkick Costello of DCU when he sprang to the front, they came home second and third, putting the mens title out of reach of Limerick. The UCD 4 x 400 team made a huge effort to score enough points to earn the overall trophy but 3rd was not enough as Limerick finished first after a huge battle with DCU.

In the womens competition the absence of Joanne Cuddihy and Deirdre Ryan proved critical in the end although several new faces such as Rachel Reddy, Mairead Doherty and Niamh O'Reilly made sure that they were not walked over. Dervla O'Rourke won the 110 hurdles and picked up points in the Long Jump and Shot Put. Aoife Byrne took time out from her final year studies to win the 1500m ahead of Eilis Connery in 2nd. Anne Marie Whelan took home a bronze medal in the Javelin. Captain Fiona O'Friel won 4 medals in a Herculean effort to keep their hopes alive and indeed they were untill the very end when O'Friel took the 4 x 400m relay team home in 2nd place behind UL. They finished 3rd overall improving hugely on 7th place in the Indoors and 5th in the 2004 Outdoors.

UCD also took the Combined Events Trophy with Kevin Burke, Aoife Murray and Hugo Leeney all completing their respective competitions.

For full results go to www.iuaa.org

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Click here for Friday's Timetable.
Click here for Saturday's Timetable.
The timetables are in 'jpg' format and shouldn't take more than 10 seconds to load on a 56kb modem connection.

The hammer competition is being held in UCD but competitors are required to check in in Irishtown. Transport is being provided from Irishtown to UCD.

For directions to/maps of the stadium, Irishtown etc go to www.crusadersac.org/maps_irishtown.html .

New club gear will be available at the competition at a HUGE discount. Tickets to the post competition party will also be available to UCD athletes on Saturday.

For more information call Ruari (0857540898), or Fiona (0864062341).

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The individual results have been collated double checked and posted.
Click here for the individual results.
Click here for the team results.
If you believe any of these results to be incorrect please send your ammendments to the club by email.

Electronic Timing was kindly provided by Brian Price from Race Management.

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UCDAC are organising the 2005 Dublin University T&F Championsips to be held in Irishtown Stadium on April 15th. The programme has been designed to appeal to athletes wishing to tune up for the Intervarsity T&F the following week. Click here for more information.

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