Congratulations to the UCD swimmers who won in the women’s, men's and overall categories in the 2018 Irish Swimming Intervarsity Championships!
The event was well organised and hosted in the great 50m pool facilities at UCD, Belfield. UCD have dominated the varsity competitions for several years now, with particular strength in their women's team over the years, which previously included Olympian and ex-captain, Aisling Cooney, and Irish 50m and 100m butterfly record holder, Shauna O'Brien. It seems that UCD has the sheer volume of female athletes to continue holding off the competition in the team event, with their elite programme engaging top athletes in the country, however a number of other strong athletes are scattered in different colleges, putting forward good individual performances.
DCU have been putting up a strong fight, coming second in the women's, men's and overall categories, putting forward their strongest performance to date at the competition. The DCU team believe they have a good chance at beating their rivals in the Intervarsity Championships in 2019. Clodagh Flood brought home their only female gold medal and has been a valuable team member since joining DCU.
Paralympian, Ellen Keane, was part of the DIT Swim Team, in which just four female athletes competed and managed to secure the overall bronze position. The team's success is sure to inspire other swimmers to get involved and continue to grow the DIT Swim Team.
UCD put great effort in to promoting the event and encouraging the competitors to share their photos and videos using the hashtag #JoinTheRace. A video featuring Kate Kavanagh and Darragh Greene was shared in the build up to the event!
Get ready for the 2018 Irish Intervarsity Swimming Championships in UCD, coming up on the 23rd and 24th of March. Brought to you by @bankofireland #JoinTheRace #BOI pic.twitter.com/rnc33EGchX
— UCD Swimming (@UCDswimming) March 6, 2018
