Less than one second separated the UCD and DCU men’s teams after 9 miles of racing at the Intervarsity Road Relay Championships last Saturday in Maynooth.

In a hectic race which saw the lead change hands three times, heroic performances from all five members of the UCDAC team was enough to hold off the challenge of strong rivals DCU and the other 24 teams in the race.

Men’s Captain Dan King set the tone for the team in the opening mile handing over to Alan McCormack right on the shoulder of DCU. McCormack did well to keep in touch with the in-form Paul Robinson of DCU who broke the 2-mile record time for the course. A 30 second deficit separated the teams going into the crucial 3-mile leg which was eaten away at by Joe Sweeney. Sweeney hunted the DCU 3-mile runner and had halved the lead by the time Chris Johnston started his 2-mile leg.

A truly heroic run by Johnston not only saw him catch his DCU rival but also put clear distance between the teams. The large crowd in attendance responded to Johnston’spowerful run and lifted the Donegal man home to hand over to EAA athlete Mark English. Despite a strong chase by the DCU last leg runner Brian Kelly, who broke the course mile record, English kept his composure to hold of Kelly in a sprint finish with just 0.3 seconds separating the two Colleges after 41 minutes of running.

The UCD Women’s team of Harriet Flynn, Ellie Hartnett, Eva Lafferty and Shauna Moran performed well with the relatively young team coming home in 6^th place against much more experienced opposition. The girls will be looking to build on this result next year. Special thanks must go to UCD Distance Coach James Nolan, S&C coach George Patrakos and physical therapist Ciaran Mc Donnagh who have worked closely preparing the teams over the past few months.