Records fall as athletes shine at the IUAA Track & Field Championships

429 athletes from 21 universities across Ireland travelled to Mary Peters track in Belfast this weekend for the 102nd edition of the IUAA Track & Field Championships, hosted by Ulster University. It was all to play for as the teams battled it out for trophies in the middle distances, throws, sprints, jumps and combined events, as well as the much sought after womens, mens and overall team silverware.

The first events of the weekend were the hurdles, which saw two SETU records reset, firstly by Arabella Adeoya who clinched gold in the 100mH running 14.60 seconds. This was followed up by Adeoya’s teammate Adam Nolan who, running 15.20 seconds, got both the college record and the gold medal. Another college record was also reset by Alex Joyce (ATU) who took gold in the women’s 400mH in 63.52 seconds.

Staying with the shorter events, Alana Ryan (UL) took the 100m title in 12.42 seconds, with Katie Bergin (UCC) inched ahead of her teammate Lauren McCourt (UCC) to close in 24.85 seconds. In the men, UCD ruled the roost with Toluwabori Akinola securing the gold medal in the men’s 100m in 10.98 seconds, while Darragh Murphy posted a 22.14 to win the 200m. The crowd was treated to an IUAA record in the women’s 400m, with Lauren Cadden (ATU) running a very swift 53.38 seconds. Joe Doody sent another medal UCD’s way as he took gold in the men’s 400m in 48.22 seconds.

The relays, which offer a large chunk of points to the winning teams, were a huge source of excitement across the day. UCD’s Toluwabori Akinola, Darragh Murphy, Jack Kinane and Hugo Magee were the clear winners in 41.89 seconds in the men’s 4x100m, resetting the UCD record in the process. A similar story transpired in the women’s race where Molly Hourihan, Aisling Kelly, Ella Duane and Sive O’Toole held off the UCC quartet to win in 48.33 seconds. Likewise, UCD took the gold in the men’s 4x400m, setting yet another UCD record (3.18.30 minutes) with Joe Doody, Canice Whearty, Hugo Magee and Cian McPhillips. It was three out of four UCD records in the relays for UCD, with Molly Hourihan returning to help Susie Nestor, Emily Lyne and Hannah Murray securing gold in the women’s 4x400m in 3.56.60 minutes. The mixed relay, a new event voted in at the IUAA AGM back in October, saw UCC deny UCD a clean sweep in the relays, taking gold in 3.44.68 minutes with a team comprising of Praise Wenegieme, Orla Coffey, Patrick Leydon and Eimear Maher. Alas, UCD’s relay performances secured them the sprints trophy ahead of UL in second and DCU in third.

Moving up to the middle distances, a star performer of the day was Lucy Holmes who took home gold for MTU in both the women’s 800m (2.11.70 minutes) and 1500m (4.31.40 minutes), with the latter being a MTU record. Edel Monaghan ran the 3000m to set a TUD record and secure gold with a time of 9.47.80 minutes, while Amy Greene (DCU) was the clear winner of the women’s 3000m steeple in 10.52.70 minutes.

In the men’s middle distances, one of the two gold medals won by MU this weekend was locked in by Kevin McGrath running a MU record of 1.57.50 minutes, while Callum Morgan (QUB) won a tactical 1500m in 4.01.60 minutes. In another tactical race, Oisín Spillane sped ahead of UCD’s Solomon Holden-Betts to take the W in the 3000m steeplechase in 9.19.20 minutes.

The walks saw UL’s Jake O'Brien the clear winner in 13.04.60 over 3000m, while Ciara Mooney (DCU) kept ahead of teammate Ciara Wilson Bowen to win the women’s 1500m walk in 7.04.90 minutes.

Hannah Gilliand (QUB) was the convincing winner of the women’s 5000m, backing up her second place finish in the IUAA Cross Country Championships back in March, running a speedy 17.11.80 minutes (a QUB record). Pierre Murchan (TCD) led the men’s 5000m from gun to tape, finishing up in 14.10.00, a college record and less than a second off the current IUAA record. Cathal O’Reilly (DCU) kept just ahead of TCD’s Shane Spring to win the men’s 10000m in 31.25.00 minutes. DCU won the middle distance trophy, with UCD and UL trailing behind.

Arguably the field events proved even more exciting than the track at this championship, with no less than three IUAA records set, including a u23 National Record set by Nicola Tuthill (UCD) in the hammer where she threw 68.65 metres.

Staying with the women’s throws, the ever impressive Kotryna Pacerinskaite (UL) set an IUAA record of 9.50 metres in the 20lb weight for distance (as well as coming second in the shot put). Niamh Fogarty (TUS) dominated as expected in the women’s discus throwing an IUAA record of 52.78 metres. Ciara Sheehy of DCU was over 1 metre ahead of the rest of the field in the shot, throwing 13.98 metres. Leanne Healy threw a UL record of 41.37 metres to win the javelin.

In the men’s shot, Callum Keating (UL) set a college record of 14.08 metres to win gold, and UCC’s discus record fell with Padraig Hore throwing 45.64 metres to take the win in his 18th appearance for UCC. DCU’s Coil O’Muiri threw 53.78 metres in the hammer to take the win, whale Conor Cusack (UL) was a clear winner of the javelin with a throw of 60.74 metres. MU’s second gold of the day came from Robert Huggins who threw 9.12 in the men’s 35lb weight for distance. DCU’s depth in the throws saw them take this trophy home.

The men’s long jump and triple jump were dominated by UL, with Luke O' Carroll winning the former with a jump of 7.08 metres, and Brendan Lynch winning the triple with 13.83 metres. The gold in the men’s high jump was split between MTU’s Ben Donovan and DCU’s Jack Forde, with them both clearing 1.90 metres. DCU took both the women’s high jump and the triple, with Ciara Kennelly clearing 1.80 metres in the former,and Daphni Doulaptsi-Teeuwen jumping 12.36 metres in the latter. A college record was set by UL’s Sophie Meredith in the long jump where she posted an impressive 5.92 metres. UL took the jump trophy back to Limerick thanks to Sophie, Luke and Brendan.

The athletes and organisers alike grappled with the yellow weather warning, resulting in the regrettable cancellation of the pole vault competition on health and safety grounds.

Further success was seen with UL who took first and second in the women’s combined events, with Laura Frawley setting a college record of 3211 points. Jack Forde (DCU) posted 3102 points to take gold in the men’s competition, with DCU winning the combined events team competition.

In the end, the formidable DCU dominated yet again, winning the men’s, women’s and overall team titles. Beating them next year, where they play the role of hosts in the recently renovated Morton Stadium may prove difficult, but second place finisher’s UL will stay hot on their heels.


The full results are available HERE.
The live stream has been uploaded to the Athletics Ireland YouTube Channel