Golden Boy Harper Shines in the Sun for UU

The sun shone over the Morton Stadium Santry to open the 134^th Irish University Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday 13^th, this day usually proves unlucky for some, but hosts DCU were out in full force to get there hands on both the men’s and women’s championship titles and the overall event.  With World Cross Country heroin Fionnuala Britton getting them off to a flying start with gold in both an impressive 3000m steeplechase and 5000m there was no stopping DCU as they led the team competition from start to finish to win with an impressive 141.5 points from the ladies team and 142 from the men.

The Throws

On he other hand, Friday 13^th had an unlucky start for University of Ulster (UU) athlete Jeremy Harper.  Harper, towards the end of his weights session the morning before competition, dislocated his left arm completing his first snatch, strangely enough this was his 13^th dislocation but luckily enough it was not his throwing arm and after medical attention Harper made the journey to Santry where his luck improved for the remainder of the day. 

Harper’s best event is discus but with his pure strength he can put his mind to any of the throws events and come out at the top. First up was the javelin, which he won comfortably with a PB throw of 52.32m. Next came the shot, with another golden throw measuring 13.17m. Harper was looking unbeatable in the throw events for the weekend and topped off his medal collection with two more golds in the 16kg Weight for distance (9.03m) and his main event discus (44.50m). 

Unfortunately it might even have been 5 golds for Harper as he decided to give he hammer a miss as it would probably have put too much strain on his weaker arm - there is always next year.

Other UU throws athletes included Chris Summers and Alister (Forest) Benson J.  Summers is a former Schools champion and is now focused on rugby but in making a come back to his Hammer event, he finished 7^th with a throw of 24.71m.  Benson, an all rounder and beginner put his all into each of the throws events finishing 8^th in the shot (10.01m) and 9^th in the hammer (15.85m). He is another one to look out for in the future.

In the ladies throws section, scholar athlete Laura Kerr made a good start to the season setting a benchmark of 47.85m in the javelin, that no other athlete got near – the second placed Sarah Cormack of the University of Limerick threw nearly 20 metres less. Kerr followed up her gold medal with another in the shot (11.59m) and in the 8kg weight for distance went head to head with Hammer champion Eileen O’Keeffe. O’Keeffe had just set a new IUAA record in the hammer with a throw of 67.21m and also clinched the gold in the discus (43.35). UU athlete Lynsey Glover had also competed in the hammer getting her first IUAA medal with a bronze in the competition with a distance of 39.05m. 

O’Keeffe and Kerr, both now with 2 golds a piece, battled it out in the 8kg weight for distance with O’Keeffe gaining the winning edge with a new championship record distance of 9.42m and Kerr second with a throw of 8.54m. 

The Sprinters

After a successful indoor event in Nenagh before Christmas, the UU’s sprinters were out again in full force picking up more medals. The first of the weekend came from first year sports studies’ student Kathryn Carson. Carson had taken a break after the indoor season but showed that she had not lost her turn of speed when she came in third in the 100m behind DIT’s Louise Kiernan and DCU’s Claire Brady. 

UU’s Michelle Rodgers also had a good start to the season with a bronze in both the 200m and 400m. The 400m went to club mate Elaine McCaffrey (55.71s) who not only gave an impressive running performance but definitely looked the part as well on her return from two weeks warm weather training and topping up the tan. J  The UU ladies team looked in good shape for the relays ahead.

The Distance Events

Middle distance athletes Wendy Davis and Lyndsey Monteith had a tough weekend ahead with 800m heats on the Friday night and finals for 800m and 1,500m on Saturday. Both athletes got a good draw and battled side by side in the second heat to get a place in the final. The 800m final went off with a bang as UCC athlete Orla Drumm took on the fast pace.  Davis sat back and ran a controlled and relaxed race before winding it up over the last 200m and came in third place (2:14.23) just in behind second athlete Ellen Diskin (2:13.60).  Drumm won comfortably in a time of 2:11.81. 

Two and a half hours later saw many of the same athletes out in the 1,500m. At this stage of the day the sun had taken its toll on all and as the gun went no one would take on the pace. Davis was left out in front of what was to be a very slow and tactical race. The other athletes let her do all the work until with 300m to go Drumm and Diskin attacked along with DCU’s Ciara Durkan.  Drumm came into win in a time of 4:50.97.  Davis came home in 6^th place in a time of 4:59.12 to get the remaining valuable point for UU.

Mary Margaret Meade had a good run in the 5,000m to finish in 4^th place in 17mins 21 seconds. Winner Fionnuala Britton had taken the race out at a fast pace, which the other athletes paid for in the latter half of the race.

In the 1,500m Walk, UU’s Anne Marie (Rocky) Kane came in to score in fourth place after having a good battle with the pole vault, only to come out with a shiner.  Kane had also experienced a taste of Britton’s pace when she made her debut in the 3,000m steeplechase finishing in 4^th place for UU.

UU’s male distance athletes all had good starting runs to the season. Diarmuid Grant doubled up in the 800m and 1,500m to finish 8^th in both, whilst Francis Marsh finished 6^th in a fast paced 5,000m. Jarlath Falls also had a good run to finish in 5^th in an extremely fast 10,000m with the winning time of 29:52.95 from DCU’s Mark Christie.

The Relays

The weekend’s competition was drawing to an end and as the sun still belted down on the track, UU’s female athletes got ready to get back into action.  First up was the 4x100m.  McCaffrey, Rodgers and Carson had all gone well in their individual sprints but were missing Leigh Whiteside. In her place, the UU brought in speedster rugby star Karen Law, who had early gone well in the long jump and also had a shot at the 3,000m. The girls battled against a very strong DCU and UL team and held out for the bronze.

When it came to the 4x400m the UU girls looked strong with the experience of McCaffrey and Rodgers and teamed up with middle distance athletes Davis and Monteith. Monteith took it out for the girls and was not too far behind the medals when passing the baton to McCaffrey, from here there was no turning back as McCaffrey made up the ground going in to first place with still 200 metres to go of her leg.  Davis kept up the lead to pass over to Rodgers who just needed to run a relaxed fast leg home.  The girls took gold in a winning time of 3:52.32m with UL in second (3:55.81) and UCC in third (3:56.79).

Medallists from Queens University Belfast included Simon Heron (3^rd high jump - 1.92m), Robert Cascone (3^rd Pole Vault - 3.00m) and Laura Loughlin (1^st Triple Jump -10.70m).

Well done to all the competing athletes.

Kerry Harty

Athletics Development Officer