Sports Digest Issue Four
By David Corscadden | Nov 20 2014
OrienteeringThe UCD Orienteering Club experienced great success in both the male and female competitions at the Inter Varsities held recently. UCD competed against teams from Trinity College, UCC and Queen’s Belfast on challenging sand dunes and an army base at Tyrella, Co Down. UCD Captain, Colm Moran, came out victorious in the Men’s A Class finishing with a time of 52.16, securing the individual gold for himself. With Laurence Quinn and Cillín Corbett claiming third and fourth spot finishes respectively, the team gold medal was also secured for UCD.The UCD women’s team experienced equal success with the individual gold being secured by Róisín Long who finished the course in 59.10. Both Niamh Corbett and Mia Falkenthal finished strong in fourth and fifth place respectively. This was enough to secure UCD’s second team gold of the competition and round out a successful competition for the team.Athletics UCD recently played host to the annual Colours Road Relay event between UCD and Trinity. The event, which saw large support from both universities, took place over a one mile lap laid out around the sports pitches in UCD. The UCD’s women’s team performed exceptionally well with the A team finishing in first place followed closely by the UCD B Team. Roisin Clearly ran the fasted mile in 5.30 with Muireann O’Shea clocking 11.46 for the 2 miles.The men’s race proved a highly contested race between the UCD and Trinity teams. The race remained a close call for the majority until the two mile leg saw Cian O’Reilly pulling in to a clear lead for the UCD A Team.The race ended with the UCD A Team in first position, followed by the Trinity A Team in second and UCD B in claiming third.At the time of going to print UCD Bears were hoping to continue their successful run with teams taking part in the IUAA Road Relays at NUI Maynooth.Trampoline The UCD Trampoline Club has retained its Intervarsity Champions title for the fourth consecutive year. The competition saw the dedication and skills of the club displayed in full with nine members claiming medals across seven categories. Of the wins UCD claimed four first place wins for Conar Alex Smyth (Novice Men), Marianne Quirke (Intermediate Women), Jordan Dockery (Advanced Men) and Paddy Benn (Elite Men). Of the first place finishers, Quirke claimed the title of highest scoring competitor at this year’s competition.Within the team competitions the UCD A Team displayed great techniques to claim second place overall. The team was made up of Marianne Quirke, Roseanne Boland, Nicole Tianihad and Jordan Dockery.HockeyFollowing a scoreless draw in the women’s hockey game between Pembroke and Loreto, UCD moved to top of the Women’s Leinster Senior Division One table. UCD beat Glenanne with a 9-0 trashing in the game played in Belfield and now sit one point ahead of Pembroke with two games in hand.UCD’s scoring started off in flying form with a hat trick scored by Nikki Evans with in ten minutes of play starting. While the Glenanne’s Roisín O’Brien put up a strong fight to prevent UCD scoring, the first half ended with two more goals for the UCD scoreline. The second half of the match saw UCD’s spirits soaring and their performance on par with the first half. By the time the final whistle blew UCD had clocked up four more goals thanks to Deirdre Duke, Gillian Pinder, Emily Beatty, Chloe Watkins and Anna O’Flanagan who all found the back of the next.