[dropcap]D[/dropcap]CU Athletics Club reclaimed the title at the Irish Universities Athletics Association’s road relay championships last weekend.
The Intervarsity road relay race took place in Maynooth on Saturday the 18th of November with eleven colleges represented, including University College Dublin, University of Limerick and Queens University Belfast. DCU were particularly successful on the day, with the men’s team placing first and the women’s team coming second in their respective races.
The men’s team, comprised of Jonny Whan, Gary Campbell, Eoin Strutt, Paul Robinson and Andrew Coscoran, claimed first place with a one minute and three seconds to spare over QUB.
The team performed strongly and from the third man, Eoin Strutt, DCU held first place for the remainder of the race.
DCU had four men’s teams competing, with the other teams placing in 4th, 5th and 13th place.
The women’s team were pipped to first place by a strong UL team, who won by 17 seconds.
The DCU team of Avril Deegan, Una Britton, Nadia Power and Rachel Smyth were one of the numerous teams DCU women’s teams that competed in the race, with the B, C, D and E teams placing in 4th, 6th, 11th and 15th respectively.
It was an overall strong performance for all members of DCU Athletics Club who also achieved some fantastic personal results.
Una Britton was the fastest in the 2nd leg of the women’s race while Eoin Strutt and Paul Robinson were also fastest in their legs.
The DCU men’s team reclaimed the title from 2016 winners UL, who had broken DCU’s three year winning streak. This is the fourth title DCU have won in five years and their 10th overall title since the race began in 1987.
Ailbhe Daly
Image Credit: Irish Universities Athletics Association/Facebook