DCU athletes put on a golden performance

DCU’s athletes blitzed the opposition at the recent Intervarsity Cross Country Championships, held on a mucky, challenging course at the University of Ulster, Jordanstown.

The team, led by Breandán O’Neill on the men’s side and Linda Byrne on the women’s, retained both individual and team titles in a dominating display.

For O’Neill, the win crowned a remarkable comeback from injury, which saw him ruled out of action for eight months last year due to a severe stress fracture. Recent form had indicated he was coming back to his best, and he set out determined in the men’s 8km event, racing to an early lead along with team-mates Brian Farrell and John Coghlan.

With two kilometres remaining, O’Neill put the boot down and opened a gap on his team-mates, and at the finish, he came home two seconds clear of Farrell. Coghlan was next in to make it a clean sweep of the medals for DCU.

Kevin Lawler bounced back to form in seventh place and Feidhlim Kelly, Eoin Rowan and Eoin Dunne rounded out the scoring for DCU, who seized the men’s team title convincingly with just 44 points, well clear of UL’s total of 116.

“The plan was to sit in and move away in the last mile, and that’s what I did, so it worked out well,” said O’Neill afterwards, who credited his injury problems for a new found motivation. “It was good in a way to get a year off and just let the hair down for a while, and then you’re a lot fresher coming back, with more hunger.

“I got the miles up a bit higher than I was used to, and then let that set in. I knew I had a chance coming into it.”

In the women’s race, Linda Byrne claimed the title with an easy win. She hit the front early and never looked back, looking at ease on the course’s undulations, and at the finish, she had 30 seconds to spare over Trinity’s Aoife Byrne.

Ciara Durkan and Azmera Gebrezgi claimed third and fourth respectively, with Maire Nic Amhlaoibh rounding out the team scoring, ensuring a narrow win over Trinity College, who amassed 22 points to DCU’s 14. Last year’s champion Fionnuala Britton was absent as she continues her recovery from a stress fracture.

Next up for the red-hot DCU Dragons is the Intervarsity Track and Field Championships next month in Limerick, where they will be expected to retain both team titles.