IUAA Indoor Championships 2023

DCU men’s and women’s teams emerged victorious with DCU winning the overall team prize at the IUAA Indoors that were held in the Sport Ireland NIA in Abbottstown on Saturday 28th January. DCU women’s team have once again retained their title for a 15th time in a row and the DCU men have reclaimed their title having finished 2nd to UL last year in Athlone. UL men’s and women’s teams claimed second position behind DCU, followed closely behind in third by UCD men’s and women’s teams.

The first track medals of the day were decided in the men’s 3000m. Darragh McElhinney (UCD) posted a 8:05:86 to claim an impressive gold in a new IUAA record, while Aoife O’Cuill (DCU) claimed first place in the women’s 3000m in 9:45:10

There were great performances displayed across the mid distance events. Eoin Quinn (DCU) took the men’s 800m title in 1:58:01 just ahead of teammate Finn Woodger (DCU) in 1:58:22 and Peter Kilgannon (UCD) in 1:58:34, with all 3 athletes fighting for the line. In the women’s 800m race, Shauna Leydon (UCD) claimed the title in 2:18:78 ahead of Sophie Jackman and Karen Hayes of Trinity College Dublin.

DCU male sprinters displayed their strengths in the 200m and 400m. Mark Smyth (DCU) won the men’s 200m in a time of 21.02, breaking the IUAA record, and in the 400m, Jack Raftery (DCU) held off Ciaran Carthy (DCU) to take the title in a club record of 46.98

In the women's 200m and 400m, it was the UL sprinters who claimed the titles. Jenny Sawyer (UL) took the title in the 200m ahead of Emma Hutchinson (UU) and Erin Taheny (DCU). The 400m women's race was filled with excitement and had four strong athletes fighting to the finish. Ultimately, it was recently crowned U23 400m champion, Miriam Daly (UL) who took the title in 55.18 ahead of Molly Hourihan (UCD) and Lauren McCourt (UCC).

The men’s 60m final was packed with talent, with all three medalists running sub 7, but it was 200m silver medalist, Toluwabori Akinola (UCD) claiming the title in 6.78. On the women’s side, Cressida Antwi Amaniampong (MU) fought off tough competition from DCU and UL sprinters in the 60m final to win in 7.75 with a club record.

There was no shortage of thrilling action in the field events, with multiple IUAA records broken. Lauren Callaghan (DCU) took the women’s long jump title with a jump of 6.19m to break the IUAA record, while Jordan Knight (DCU) won the men’s long jump final with a jump of 6.67m.

Darragh Miniter (UL) set a new club record on his way to winning the men’s shot putt with a throw of 13.49m and it was the DCU women who dominated the women’s shot putt with a clean sweep of the medals. Michaela Walsh (DCU) broke the IUAA record with a throw of 15.54m to take the title ahead of teammates Ciara Sheehy (DCU) and Aoibhinn McMahon (DCU) who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.

DCU also gave some great performances in the men’s and women’s combined events. Jack Forde (DCU) took home the title in the men’s pentathlon with a score of 3426 and Niamh McCorry won the women’s pentathlon competition with a score of 3030. Both DCU athletes gave some fantastic performances across five events, having claimed the national senior men’s and senior women’s combined events titles last weekend.

The 4x200m relay finals rounded off the programme with DCU men and UCD women taking the gold medals. The DCU team of Francois Coroller, Ciaran Carthy, Mark Smyth and Michael Farrelly took the title in 1:27:99 ahead of strong UL and TUD teams. The UCD women’s quartet of Rhianna McCarthy, Molly Hourihan, Shauna Leydon and Cara Murphy fought all the way to the finish against a strong DCU team, to take the win in a new club record of 1:42:90

Overall the IUAA indoor championships was a very successive day of competition, filled with impressive performances across all disciplines, and it gave way for some new and upcoming talent to perform on the University Athletics stage. All focus will now shift towards the IUAA Cross Country Championships on the 4th of March in Limerick and towards the IUAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on the 21st and 22nd April on DSD track. 

Full results HERE

Report supplied by IUAA