DCU Athletics has enjoyed an almost unprecedented level of success this year so far, with even more still to come.
The club came into this year off the back of a very strong 2016/2017 season and a summer full of individual accolades for it’s athletes.
The highlight of these achievements was that of International Relations student Greta Streimikyte coming agonisingly close to a podium finish at the World Paralympic games in London in July, finishing just over a second off third place in the 1500m in the T13 category.
On top of this, a strong showing from DCU Students at the National Track and Field Championships over the summer, culminating in thirty medals, including six golds, meant spirits were high as the first event of the year rolled around in November.
DCU started the 2017/2018 season as they meant to go on winning the Road Relay Title for Overall Best College, successfully reclaiming the title from UL, who had broken DCU’s three year winning streak.
The men’s team in particular dominated their race, finishing over a minute ahead of their closest competitors, QUB. Meanwhile the women also put in a very strong performance, only finishing seventeen seconds off a very good UL squad.
The success kept flowing in as the Intervarsity Indoors took place in Athlone in February. DCU continued what would be a trend of the year by being the overall best college at the event, with both the men’s and women’s teams winning emphatically.
The men’s team hauled an impressive twelve medals however the women went even further, amassing an astonishing fifteen medals. Both teams finished with more than double the points of closest rivals UL in second and no less than three members of the squad broke IUAA Records.
Matthew Behan blitzed his way to a 60m Hurdles title, breaking the eight second barrier in the process. Gary Campbell ran a superb 3000m to take the honours and the indoor record to boot. Finally, Elizabeth Morland blew the competition away, winning the combined events in record style.
The Club continued this phenomenal success the following month at the Intervarsity Cross Country Championships that were taking place in the Trinity Sports Grounds in Santry. The short trip ended in yet another clean sweep of men’s, women’s and overall titles coming back with the team.
The men’s team narrowly retained their title from last year by just four points from UCD despite key absences from the squad. However, the women’s team performed stronger, far ahead of UCC in second and with Una Britton finishing second with Elizabeth Carr also coming in the top five.
All of this success for DCU Athletics may not be finished yet with the Outdoor Intervarsity Championships just around the corner. Last year in UCC, DCU won every different title except the Combined Events, where they finished second behind Trinity.
This time around DCU will surely look to retain their various titles in Mary Peters’ Track in Belfast, as Queen’s host this year’s event.
Ian Brennan
Image Credit: DCU Athletics / Facebook