Coming off the back of a very successful year which included winning the Juniors, Seniors and Colours competitions, the UCD Boxing club had high hopes coming into this new season.

Senior boxers began intense fitness training before the academic year even began in preparation for a busy schedule of both intervarsity and club competitions. The Dublin Novice competition, held in the National Boxing Stadium from the 31^st of October, provided something to train hard towards as many had hopes of competing. This was the first time UCD was to compete in the competition in over 10 years and was a massive step in the development of the club under new management and the watchful eye of coaches Paddy Solan and Niall Currid. Their aim at the beginning of the year was to step up from intervarsity level to compete at club level and the Dublin Novice provided the perfect platform in doing so. Boxers trained intensively up to five nights a week as both coaches prepared them for the competition.

The weigh in for the competition was held on Sunday 30^th with the competition commencing the following day and a total of five boxers hailing from UCD entered; Conor Dowling (57kg), Cillian Carroll (66kg), James Brady (81kg), George Guerra (69kg) and Cian Kingston (81kg).

All five boxers performed exceptionally well in each all of their contests doing both the college and club incredibly proud. The results were as follows:

Conor Dowling – 57kg Finalist

Cillian Carroll – 66kg Semi-finalist

James Brady – 81kg Dublin Novice Champion

George Guerra – 69kg Finalist

Cian Kingston – 81kg Quarter-finalist

All boxers fought very close bouts and their commitment made each member of the team from the beginning of the year was very much justified by their performances. The move from the High Performance Colours gym to a hall in the Sports Centre has made it difficult for everyone especially due to the huge numbers of newcomers but the focus and determination of the club did not let this stand in their way and this showed greatly in the performances of each boxer. However, the lads will have little break after their exhaustive week as they go straight back to training this week ahead of the many upcoming competitions.

In other news, former UCD boxer Ciara Doyle recently won an U21 title. All members of the club are very proud and wish every success in the future.