The university is no stranger to silverware and records at a national level, with it being no different on Saturday the 21st of January, stepping up on the podium sixteen times and claiming silver in the women's, men’s, and overall team events.

 

A special mention to Darragh Miniter, who took gold in the shot put, raising his club record to 13.49m. Our gold medallists also include Jenny sawyer in the 200m, Miriam Daly in the 400M, Brendan Lynch in the triple jump, and Conor Cusack in the weight for distance.

 

Our silver medallists include Louise King in the combined events, Mark Hanrahan in the 3000m and the men's 4x200m quartet of Jack Hickey, Joe Miniter, Louis O’Connell, and Eoin Kenny.

 

Rounding out the podium positions, we had Laura Nally in the 60m, Grainne Dart O'Flynn in the 1500m walk, Laura Frawley in the Long Jump, and Blaithin Ni Chiarain in the combined events. In the men's, Joe Miniter took bronze in both the long jump and triple jump, Aaron Malik took bronze in the pole vault and Brendan Lynch in the combined events.

 

Our men’s captain Jack Hickey took fifth place in the 200m against some stellar competition, but not to be outdone, our women’s captain Miriam Daily took a stunning victory in the  400m. Being the class of the field on the day, winning by nearly four-tenths of a second. 

 

Just over a month since first-year Mark Hanrahan took his first European medal, Mark made it known he wanted to maintain this form by entering the 3000m. After a relatively slow opening kilometre, the pace was gradually turned down. However, Mark's prowess over cross country clearly transferred over to the sharp bends and short straights in the National indoor arena, with Mark able to take silver. Oisin Spillane closely followed Mark in fifth; Oisin also took part in the 1500m, coming fourth in a closely fought battle, with 3 seconds separating first from fifth.

 

Louise King has represented the university three times in combined events and has won a medal each time. The combined events include the 60m hurdles, Long jump, high jump, shot put, and a middle-distance event depending on gender. The university has had great success in recent years in combined events, also called the pentathlon.

 

Morale was high on the trip home from Dublin, with the club's attention now focused on hosting IUAA intervarsity cross country on march 4th. The university previously hosted the world university cross-country championships in 1994, and Limerick hosted the world cross-country championships in 1979 when John Tracy took his historic victory. The club is doing everything possible to make this an enjoyable event, so please be sure to come down.

Training Times

The club will host a Newcomers Training Session this Wednesday at 6.30pm at the UL Athletics Track. The session will serve as an opportunity for new and prospective members to meet some of the club members and experience UL Athletics Club Life. We are happy to facilitate all interests and levels of ability. 

Our endurance group will also meet this Wednesday at 6.30pm also at the Track. 

Clubs and Societies Fair 

The club were delighted to join the other Clubs and Societies in UL Sport Arena last Wednesday for the return of the Fair. The evening was a great success and a great opportunity to recruit new members. We held a competition with thanks to RecoveryPlus Limerick who sponsored us some recovery sessions in their new Castletroy facility. The winners of our competition were Alex Ryan and Sophie Meredith. Congratulations to them both, they win a recovery session for them and one other worth €50. 

University of Limerick has had a long-established tradition of athletics since the establishment of the college. The track has been a landmark of the Castletroy campus and has produced many Irish Olympians who have brought UL athletics to the global stage.

Domestically the club competes each year in the Irish University Athletics Associations Championships which are held annually throughout the academic year. The club caters for roughly 100 members under the guidance of its committee and coaches.

On the 29th of January 2022, ULAC made the trip to Athlone to take on the best Intervarsity athletes in the country at the IUAA Indoor Championships 2022. In total the club sent 41 athletes, 16 female and 25 Male to the championships with individual and team success to the forefront of their minds. At Intervarsity competition team points are awarded to the top 6 finishers in each event with 7 points being awarded for a win and 1 point for a sixth-place finish.

From the first events of the day beginning at ten o’clock in the morning to the culminating relays at six that evening UL athletes produced incredible performances many of whom exceeding their own personal bests. In total UL Athletes brought home 22 medals from the championships along with numerous other Top-6 scoring finishes. In fact across the sixteen Male and sixteen Female events, UL only failed to score in just five of the thirty-two events.

There were also six UL records broken on the day. Both male and female Long Jump records were claimed by Luke O’Carroll (7.22m) and Sophie Meredith (5.72m). Similarly both male and female Shot Putt records also fell to Darragh Miniter (13.16m) and Ciara Sheehy’s (13.05m) huge throws. The Female 4x200m relay team of Sarah Leahy, Miriam Daly, Laura Nally and Alana Ryan also claimed a UL record for themselves finishing in a time of 1.40.74. Jake Bagge also wrote his name into the UL record books with his time of 1.53.07 over 800m.

Six of our athletes brought home gold medals to the banks of the Shannon, O’Carroll and Meredith’s Long Jump records were both good enough for gold, as was the Women’s Relay team’s records. Cathal Crosbie was a popular winner of the 400m in his final year of eligibility taking his 3rd and 4th Intervarsity titles as he also anchored the Men’s Relay to victory joined by Luke Morris, Luke O’Carroll and Eoin Kenny. Our final gold medallist of the day was first year student Iarlaith Golding who stormed to victory in the 60m hurdles.

The club also saw Sarah Leahy (200m), Ciara Sheehy (Shot Putt), Jake Bagge (800m), Oisin Lane (2000m Walk), Joe Miniter (Long Jump), Brendan Lynch (Triple Jump), Darragh Miniter (Shot Putt) and Eoin Sharkey (Pentathlon) take home silver medals.

Bronze medallists on the day were Sarah Leahy (60m), Alana Ryan (200m), Sophie Meredith (Triple Jump), Louise King (Pentathlon), Joe Miniter (Triple Jump), Yuri Kanash (Pole Vault), Darragh Miniter (Weight for Distance) and Tristan Chambers (Pentathlon).

Following the final events the wait came for the team prizes to be announced. The IUAA team competitions over the past decade or more have been dominated by DCU with their Female’s undefeated since 2007. Despite our female team accumulating 32.5 more points than the last edition of the championships in 2020 the girls efforts were only enough for a second-place finish to the Dublin outfit matching their efforts from 2018.

The DCU Men have enjoyed a similar level of dominance in the Male team competition with their team having retained the trophy every year since 2007. UL’s Men were last victorious during the 2003/04 season when many of the 2022 team weren’t even in Junior Infants let alone thinking of university. Despite this the UL men fought for every last team point amassing a huge 97 points to take an historic victory. This is UL’s first Team title, male or female, on the track since 2006 when our men took home the Outdoor Trophy.

This adds to what has been an already monumental year for the club when in September we won the IUAA Cross Country Championship Overall Trophy for the first time since 2001. The club looks forward to travelling to Santry, Dublin to defend that title in March and to UCD’s Belfield in April for the IUAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships where we will hope to continue our winning season.

The European Cross-Country Championships were held in perfect winter conditions in the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin this Sunday last (13th December). UL Athletics braved the early morning start to travel to the capital in support of 2nd  Year B. Ed. (MIC) Student Thomas Devaney.

The Castlebar man had been selected on the Men’s u23 team to take on the best Europe had to offer over 8,000m of rolling terrain. Devaney along with his Irish teammates were in the mix right from the gun buoyed on by the roaring home crowd. Lap by lap Ireland gradually crept up the team standings until with 2 laps to go we were sat in the gold medal spot.

The Irish crowd lifted their voices and the boys on the course their performances as the Irish team came home to secure the European team title with 3 points to spare over the British team.

Thomas crossed the line to take 67th place and a spot in the top of rostrum as part of Team Ireland. We are incredibly proud of Thomas’ achievements. This is testament of his commitment to his training over the last number of months, particularly during the pandemic when restrictions meant long, lonely mileage around the roads of Mayo. To medal at a European level is a fantastic achievement and to do it on home soil makes it all the more special. We are extremely proud of Thomas and look forward to seeing what is in store for him in the future. 

The University of Limerick Athletics Club is delighted to welcome its members back this year after the disruption the sport faced in the 2020/21 season.

Our club has almost doubled our membership from our last active season from 64 to 104 members. It is great to see such a high interest in athletics in UL and the great numbers we have out our training sessions at the UL Sport track and the Maguires Fields Trails.

Our first competition back this year was the COVID-delayed 2021 IUAA Cross Country Championships held in the sports ground of Dublin City University. Both our Women’s and Men’s teams achieved 2nd place finishes with Ciara O’Neill picking up an Individual Silver Medal also. The highlight of the day was ULAC being awarded the Overall Combined Trophy to win the championship outright. Our Men’s Captain Damien Madigan accepted the ‘Badger’ Ruth Romney Trophy on the clubs behalf.

It was the first time ULAC had won this trophy since 2001 and is a great boost for our club to see our distance programme back at the top table of universities athletics.

The new season began on November 13 at NUI Maynooth’s picturesque campus. The IUAA Road Relays saw our Women’s and Men’s Teams finish in very credible 6th place positions in races that saw many Tokyo 2021 Olympians competing for other colleges. We also fielded a Men’s B team which finished in 14th position, a great result for the team, many of whom were making their ULAC debuts.

The club looks forward to supporting our own Thomas Devaney who has been selected to compete at the European Cross-Country Championships as part of the Men’s u23 team. The championships are to be held at the Sport Ireland Campus in Abbotstown, Dublin on December 12th, 2021. The Castlebar AC athlete deserves this honour, and we will travel in numbers to support him and his teammates on the day.

In the new year the club looks forward to the full return to the Intervarsity Competition. Our first competition will be the IUAA Indoor Championships on January 29th held in TUS Midwest Arena. We will then be back on grass in March for the IUAA Cross-Country Championships to defend the ‘Badger’ at Santry Demesne hosted by Trinity College. Our final event of the year will be the IUAA Track and Field/Combined Events Championships hosted by UCD on their new track.

The club would like to thank UL Sport and UL Wolves Clubs and Societies for the continued support of our club and we look forward to seeing what the New Year has in store for us all at UL Athletics.

HUGE day at the office for our UL wolves at 2020/21 All-Ireland Intervarsity cross-country championship's.
In the Women's race, our ladies ran out of their minds to win the silver team medal. Ciara O'Neill finished a fantastic 2nd, she was joined in the top 10 by Kate McDonald, (8th), and Nuria Estrada (10th) who both had good days in the office. The scoring four was completed with a strong run from Karen Gallagher in 13th. Strong running from our non-scorers in the ladies race encapsulated the day with Sinead Gaffney in 20th, Norah O'Brien close behind in 22nd and Áine O'Farrell in 24th.

In the Men's competition, an event in which the men finished second the last time around, we had some serious displays from Thomas Devaney in 5th, Con Doherty in 6th and Oisín Spillane in 9th. All of the first 6 men across the line for UL were in the top 30 and this was rounded off by Naoise O' Flathartaigh in 23rd, Darragh Kelly in 26th and Dean Ryan in 29th all with extremely impressive runs. Finally, our team was completed with solid displays from Darragh O'Leary in 31st, Damien Madigan in 36th and Jamie McCarthy in 52nd. These performances were enough to help the team retain the silver medal they won the year before.

In the overall standings, our UL Wolves were clear winners and were awarded the 'Badger' Ruth Romney Award for the first time since 2001!

Finally, a big congrats to everyone today a proud day for the wolves and a proud day for each athlete out there a big thank to our cross coach Rory Chesser and all who helped make today possible.

We will be back in action in Maynooth in November for the IUAA Road Relays. 

UL Athletic Club AGM happening tonight at 8pm, Upcoming events will be discussed.All are welcome to come along!!

The UL Men's and Women's squads came out victorious at the IUAA National Road Relays held in Maynooth on Nov 19. The competition is made up of a 4-person relay in the women's race and a 5 person relay in the men's race. Each athlete competed over a distance between 1 and 3 miles. DCU were runners-up in both the men's and the women's race. The Athletics Club hopes to carry this momentum forward into the spring semester of competition.

There were many major outdoor championships this year.  Firstly to Thomas Barr our 400m Hurdles World Universities Champion!!! He competed in World Relays, World Student Games, World Championships and many Diamond Leagues this summer! He has the NR for the 400m Hurdles and was on the 4x400m team that also set a NR this summer.  In the European U23s we had Eanna Madden & this years mens captain Kieran Elliot! Congrats lads - 4x100m NU23R for you! Many of our athletes ran big PBs this year - well done to all! A huge welcome to our new members this year, we have some big names coming into the club this year who also competed for Ireland at international competitions this summer! See you all at the track!

The UL Athletics squad had a highly successful opening to the season with both the men’s’ and women’s’ teams placing second at the Intervarsities Indoor Championships held in Athlone I.T. The event, held on the 6th of February, was thoroughly enjoyed by all and some magnificent races were witnessed. The women finished the day with 59.5 points with notable performances from Niamh Whelan and Claire Brady in the 60m, Niamh Donnelly in the 800m, Alana Frattaroli in the shot put and Maeve Curley in the walk. Amy O’Donoghue captured gold in the 1500m and also claimed a new IUAA record in the process. Roisin Howard came out on top in the combined events with strong performances in the 60m hurdles, 800m, high jump, long jump and shot putt. The 4x200m relay team of Niamh Whelan, Siobhan Whelan, Marie Heelan and Laura Kavanagh all ran excellent legs to bring a silver medal home. The men’s team ended the day on 36 points. Note-worthy performances came from Kieran Elliot and Eanna Madden in the 200m, Evan Lynch in the walk and Chris Sibanda in the long jump. Thomas Barr came home in a record winning performance in the 400m. The men’s 4x200m relay team, consisting of Elliot, Madden, Barr and Sibanda, provided the certain race of the day! An exciting race against rivals DCU was expected. The Dublin University went off strong and took a strong lead, however UL closed in on the team with every stride. It wasn’t until the last leg of Thomas Barr that DCU were overtaken and a gold medal, as well as a new IUAA record was awarded. Overall UL banked 5 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals. All members gave it their very best and the competition certainly set the stage for the Outdoor Intervarsities later this year to be held by the University of Ulster in Belfast. We also want to wish the distance runners best of luck in the IUAA Cross Country Championships in Naas this March.

Well done to the Irish team who competed in the European Track and Field Championships in Zurich this summer, especially to our own UL athlete Thomas Barr! Thomas finished 3rd in his semifinal in 49.30 seconds. Unfortunately that wasn't fast enough to qualify for the final. He also ran on the 4 x 400m relay, they managed to smash the NR in both the heat and final getting it down to 3:01.67 becoming the 5th fastest team in Europe. Well done to all!