THREE YEARS AFTER UCC’s Phil Healy came from the depths of hell to claim an improbable victory in the 4x400m relay, it was Ulster University who made up the ground to achieve an unlikely gold in the women’s 4x100m at the Irish University Track and Field Championships at Athlone IT on Saturday.
But it was NUI Galway who, on this occasion, endured a hellish finish despite having dominated the race to within 50 metres of the line.
Nicole Walsh, Sarah Quinn and Ciara Barry had stormed the field going into the final leg, and NUIG’s final changeover could scarcely have gone better.
However, as Aishling Forkan bolted and bore down on the line with mere metres to go and acres to spare, she pulled up dramatically having appeared to damage her hamstring.
Incredibly, Forkan managed to hop her way to the finish on one leg but was pipped agonisingly on the line by Janine Boyle, who sealed an unlikely gold for Ulster University and bumped NUI Galway down to silver.
Boyle edged Forkan by only 19 hundredths of a second, with NUI’s Swinford-native runner — who has won 30 All-Ireland medals throughout her athletics career — collapsing in agony as soon as she crossed the whitewash.
Once again, weird shit happens at the Irish University Champs. Taking one (serious injury) for the team. pic.twitter.com/hElHiukodI
— Cathal Dennehy (@Cathal_Dennehy) April 6, 2019
There was a significant delay afterwards as Forkan was tended to by medics on the track and received the sympathies of her fellow competitors, some of whom brought her water.
She was then helped off it while still conspicuously in pain.
Athone IT took bronze on their home track, finishing with a time of 50.21 to NUI’s 49.85 and Ulster University’s 49.66.
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