Last weekend, a 13-strong group of DUO
runners made the trip up to Belfast for the 2014/15 Irish Student Orienteering
Championships which were held on a technically and physically tough sand dune
area at Tyrella.
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| Our team for the Intervarsities this year! |
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| Preparing for the sprint.... |
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| Pre-run socialising |
Despite
the miserable conditions and the early morning, the group was in high spirits
on departure from Dublin at 8:30 on Saturday morning. A few stops and wrong
turns later, everyone had arrived at the army base on which the Tyrella dunes
are situated with minutes to spare before the first start.
It's all fun and games... Until you have to get out of the car.....
The courses on the day proved to be very challenging with the intricate contour detail in the dunes catching many out on more than a few occasions.
Jana up at the start. The terrain...
In the Mens' Long, Conor Short was the best Trinity runner in a time of 54:51 to take 2nd place, just over 90 seconds behind UCD's Colm Moran. Eoin McCullough was the 2nd Trinity runner in 5th place, with Kyle Heron in 10th and Henrik Pettersson in 12th. Unfortunately, this was not enough to retain the Intervarsity title with UCD proving to be too strong on the day and we were left to rue our mistakes out on the course.
In
the Women's Long class, DUO was represented by Laura and Jana Cox and Rebecca
Ni Chonchubhair. The girls, although unaccustomed to courses of this length and
difficulty, took one for the team and made the step up to try to gain some
valuable points for the team. The girls put in resilient performances to get
round the course with Laura and Jana finishing, while unfortunately, Rebecca
did not complete the very demanding course.
In
the Men's Short, beginner Tim Ryan was the first Trinity runner home to take a
well-earned 6th place in a very strong field dominated by Queen's,
with Julien Beuken and Conor Dolan finishing in 8th and 9th
positions respectively.
Tim Ryan Julien Bueken Conor Dolan
In
the women's Short, DUO were represented by Laoise Doyle and Michelle Wong, who
put in good performances to finish 2nd and 3rd
respectively.
Laoise Doyle (left) and Michelle Wong (above)
Although
results-wise it was a disappointing day, with both the men's and women's teams
relinquishing their Intervarsity titles to UCD, that didn't stop us enjoying
ourselves that night when all of the colleges went out for dinner and some
light refreshments ;) as a group.
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| Eibhlin (organiser and captain of QUBOC) with Tim, Conor, Jana, Laoise & Rebecca |
The
following day, after a leisurely morning and once everyone had gotten their
morning coffee fix, it was time to go to Queen's Elms for a fun sprint around
the college accommodation, part of which was used in the sprint when the JK
came to Northern Ireland in 2011.
Everybody preparing for the sprint
QUBOC start us all off
The girls getting their games faces on!
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| Eoin discusses the course with UCCO captain James and last year's captain Kyle |
The courses were very tricky with many
uncrossable features and controls on different levels which did their job and
caught lots of people out. On the day, it was another UCD runner who took the
win on the Long course, this time Cilín Corbett, with Conor Short again DUO's
best runner finishing in 3rd, only 28 seconds behind.
Conor Short - top DUO runner
As
this was just a fun, extra event, courses were simply split between Long and
Short. As mentioned already, Conor Short finished an excellent 3rd,
with Kyle Heron in 12th, Henrik Pettersson in 19th, Tim
Ryan in 25th, Clíona McCullough in 26th (and 4th
woman), Julien Beuken in 38th, Conor Dolan in 45th,
Rebecca Ni Chonchubhair in 46th and Laoise Doyle in 50th.
Kyle (above) and Henrik (right) proudly representing DUO
Tim (above) and Julien (right) exploring Queens
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| Rebecca and Conor enjoy their course! |
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| Laoise sprints around |
On the Short, Laura Cox finished 3rd, while Michelle Wong finished
in 5th position.
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| Michelle's run shocks Conor! |
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| Laura's accurate run! |
Despite the cold weather, and although some of the results
didn't go our way, it was still a very enjoyable weekend for everyone.
Congratulations to everyone who ran, especially the beginners who performed
excellently in such tough conditions.
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| Laoise, Conor and Michelle get their prizes for Saturday! |
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| Post course discussion |
Big thanks go to QUBOC for organising the
weekend, especially Eibhlin Largey and Katarina Stefkova for all their work in
making sure everything ran smoothly. Thanks to the drivers, the committee and to everyone who came! We'll be back next
year!!
