“Darren was an unforgettable first year student”

Darren came to DCU as a first year Sport Science and Health student exactly five years ago this week.

He had already made an impact during meetings with School staff to talk about his ambition to join the programme and for the Elite Athlete Entry interview.

Darren was an unforgettable first year student. His desire to understand, his curiosity and determination to make a success of his time in DCU were inspirational both to staff and fellow students.

His results at the end of first year were exceptional, First Class Honours and joint first in a class of 55 students.

In the summer of that year he returned to the High Performance Boxing Unit and in November was ranked fifth in the World Championships.

We agreed with Darren that he would continue in the SSH programme, but that he would be facilitated in deferring modules in line with the demands of his training and competition.

Despite a potentially career ending eye injury the following year, Darren continued to combine excellence in his academic work with excellence in his boxing. He always followed through on his commitments and was appreciative of the flexibility provided to him by the school and the university.

As well as targeting Olympic qualification Darren made a commitment to complete year two of the SSH programme in 2008. So when he achieved his sporting goal at the Olympic qualification event in Athens in April 2008, whilst his fellow Olympians celebrated qualification and took a break, Darren was straight back to the books in preparation for his end of year exams.

His magnificent performance in the 2008 Olympics and his move to professional boxing are well documented.

Despite all his wonderful sporting achievements, Darren always appreciated the importance of balancing his athletic endeavours with his academic career and was determined to return to DCU to complete his degree when he eventually hung up his gloves.

This is something the school and DCU were happy to facilitate.

We consider that Darren was among the best students on the Sport Science and Health programme over the past ten years and that he had the potential to succeed at the highest academic level.

He had an enormous influence on staff and student alike and portrayed a very positive image for the school and the university to the wider community. His death has profoundly shocked and saddened us all.

May he rest in peace.