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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.