Irish University Indoors 2020 (15th Feb)

Intervarsity Indoor titles for Claire Fagan and Sarah Glennon

Seven Club athletes competed for their Colleges at the Irish University Indoors in Athlone IT on Saturday 15th February and as usual, the competition was intense.

Qualification for the final of the Men 400m was the six fastest times over four heats. Patrick Leydon (NUI Maynooth) finished third in his heat, narrowly missing a place in the final but there consolation in that his time of 51.91 seconds is a new NUIM record. The medals in the Men 3,000 were decided on the fastest times over two races. Euan Lagan (DCU) competed well and finished strongly in third place in his race, out of the medals on time, but in a very creditable 13th place overall. The Women 1,500m Race Walk is a short and very fast race but Sarah Glennon (DCU) is too experienced and was just too good for the opposition and she pulled clear effortlessly when she needed to and won the Intervarsity title with ease in 6 minutes 49.29 seconds.

(EDITED 18th Feb – Andrew Daly added) Colin Smith (DCU) qualified comfortably from his heat of the men 800m and drew the outside lane in the final. Andrew Daly (TUD) was fourth in his heat and missed a place in the final but a consolation is that his time of 2:02.47 is a new TUD record. As expected, the final was run at a fast pace from the gun. Colin kept right in contention throughout but coming into the final straight, he was one of three men chasing the silver and bronze medals. In a very close and dramatic finish where just one tenth of a second separated the three men, Colin was narrowly beaten into 4th place, missing the bronze by an agonising two hundredths of a second.

Given her recent form, Claire Fagan (DCU) was always going to be the one to beat in the Women 3,000m and she set the pace from early on. As the lap numbers wound down, it gradually reduced to a two-woman race in the closing stages, but Claire has too much pace for most, and finding an extra gear when she needed it, she pulled clear on the final lap to win with over seven seconds to spare in 9 minutes 58.09 seconds and take the Intervarsity title. Andrea Brady (Athlone IT) also competed in the race, making her Intervarsity debut, and she expressed satisfaction afterwards with her time in what was actually also her first foray into senior track competition.

Congratulations to our Club members that competed with distinction for their Colleges.