We Trinners after two good years, finally suffered the ignominy of defeat, while UCC and UCD got back to winning ways again, winning the Men's and Women's trophies respectively. It was always going to be a struggle for us, trying to defend both the Men's and Women's titles. It wasn't helped that we could only manage to enter a team in the Men's A event. Our confidence was further eroded when we discovered on the Friday night that the climb on the Men's A course was 535m. 535m! Visions of running up and down the slopes of Djouce 3 or 4 times paraded through my mind...
My faith in orienteering was completely restored the following day however. Despite the misty, drizzly weather and that inimitable climb, the course itself turned out to be most enjoyable. It's amazing what good intelligent planningcan do! Of course the event wasn't without its mishaps though. Someone was put out by the visual impact of one of the controls (on a knoll) and decided it would be more fitting lying in an adjacent stream! Also UCC's Conor Barry and myself managed to fall into the same hole legging it down a (very heathery) mountainside. Fortunately, for Conor, he was relatively unscathed. Unfortunately, for me, I fractured my leg slightly, so it was game over at that point. (Collective sighs of sympathy required here!) I should take this opportunity to thank UCC's Darren Burke for graciously assisting me down off the mountain, patiently putting up with my grunting and groaning!
In the end, UCC's Niall Bourke just nipped victory in the Men's A, with his comrade Conor Creedon second and UCD's Alastair Thin third. UL's Toni O'Donovan won the Women's A comfortably, with UCD's Liz Butler second and team-mate Susan Bell third. UCC won the Men's Trophy and UCD won the Women's Trophy.
Saturday Night, and we all gathered in a hotel in Ashford for the customary dinner and prize giving. We almost had no music for the night but UCD's master organiser Chris Blau put in a commendable effort to successfully save the evening! Cork were intent on making it their weekend with Conor Creedon eventually winning the extremely keenly contested Musical Chairs Championship (hard luck Neil). Need I say scenes of elbowing, shouldering and many other forms of unsporting physical violence were all too common! The climax of the night was the best buttocks 2000 competition with TCD's Ciara Taply taking the women's award (at last we won something!) and QUB's Andrew Mein taking the men's. Andrew, obviously anxious to raise a glass to his achievement, was a little too eager, ending up hitting it against the ceiling with some force. No doubt, it didn't come down in one piece! UCD's Belfield campus was the scene of the Sprint-O Champs on Sunday morning. (Perhaps a Fun-O would be a more apt description, at least for those who didn't have hangovers.) UCC performed best on the day, with a strong performance also from the Army Cadet School. Conor Creedon just pipped team-mate Alan Barry for victory (although a cynic might question this since the finish herself was moving around!) All in all, three cheers deserved of all those in UCD and GEN who helped pull off a successful and thrilling Irish Student Championships. On a final note, special congratulations must be extended to UCC's Captain, Conor Barry, for going back to Cork, leaving the trophy resting peacefully back in Glendalough. Cheers Conor, we're happy to hold on to it for another year! Fergal Buckley, IOSA PRO and unrepentant Trinner...
(Editor's note: This article was inadvertently omitted from the last TIO).