Irish Universities T&F 2018 (13th/14th April)

Vicky Harris wins her 100m heat

Claire Fagan competing in the 1,500m

Hosted by Queen’s University Belfast, the Irish Universities T&F Championships at the Mary Peters Track in Belfast on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th April were held in cool but excellent conditions for competition.

On Friday afternoon, Declan Brady (GMIT) contested the heats of the 800m but despite a good performance didn’t advance to Saturday’s final. Padraig Moran (DCU) had an excellent run in the 5,000m where he was always part of the leading group and was very unlucky to finish just out of the medals in 4th place in a close finish, but earned valuable points to help DCU retain the men’s team trophy. Making short work of the heats of the 100m and 200m on Friday, Vicky Harris (AIT) cruised to victory in her heats to qualify for Saturday’s finals as a favourite to finish in the medals. As expected, the 1,500m was a tactical affair where Claire Fagan (DCU) ran a fine race and finished well up to earn valuable points to help DCU retain the women’s team trophy.

On Saturday, Rachel Glennon (DCU) competed well in the 1,500m race walk and despite the very short distance for her, she raced well to finish 4th and earn team points for DCU. Saturday was a very busy day for Vicky Harris where she took silver in the 100m, bronze in the 200m, bronze in the 4x100m relay, helping AIT set a new College relay record into the bargain and helped in good measure by the points total amassed by Vicky, the AIT women finished 2nd in the women’s team placings behind DCU, their best ever placing in Inter Varsity T&F.