Olympic hero remembered at Northside boxing event

THE third annual Darren Sutherland Memorial took place in the DCU Student Hub a fortnight ago when DCU Boxing put on 10, three round fights in honour of the late DCU alumni and Olympic Bronze Medallist.

Sutherland, who tragically passed away in 2009 aged just 27, was a DCU Sports Science graduate and a former professional boxer.

A diligent student and gifted athlete during his time at DCU, Sutherland was consistently praised by staff and coaches alike for his strong work ethic and ability to balance the pressures of university life and a strict training regime.

It’s been nearly seven years since his passing, but Sutherland’s legacy is far from forgotten at the college.

 After the memorial event, DCU Boxing coach Derek Ahern reflected upon just how much the event means to everyone at the Glasnevin university.

“The night was a huge success,” Ahern told Northside People.

“We put it together very late in the day because of the scheduling of the college year, but it was a big success.

“We want to grow the event and make it bigger. We’ve had talks with Tony Sutherland, Darren’s father, about growing the event next year because Darren did so much for the sport so I hope that it can grow next year and more colleges can get involved.”

The night proved to an enormous success for DCU boxing as the club was able to raise some much needed funds for suicide prevention organisation Pieta House, while in the ring, Solomon Simon, Paul Cooney, Joey Murphy, Faolan Rahill and Simon Carter all picked up wins for DCU with Carter also winning the boxer of the tournament award.

Ahearn claims that the future of the boxing club is bright and that the fighters strive to emulate Sutherland in their studies as well as in the ring.

Sutherland, who was also a member of St Saviour’s boxing club in Dorset Street, was an honours student as well as a gifted boxer at DCU.

And according to Ahearn it was his work ethic and discipline that separated the Mulhuddart native from the rest of the fighters at the club.

“I remember we asked Darren to take part in this show in London for the club and he had already been over on a training camp abroad with the Irish team,” Ahearn added

“He travelled from that camp to London to represent the club and while he was there, and I mean he was only in London for a short period of time, when he got out of the ring he was straight back into his books.

“And he was showing me the work he had fallen behind with. He was such a perfectionist when it came to his studies and boxing. He wanted to do everything at 115 per cent and he was always on top of it, it was remarkable.

“Most of the lads were happy enough just getting their fight out of the way but with him, as soon as he stepped out of the ring, he was straight back into his laptop doing his assignments which in boxing circles wouldn’t happen too often.”

To donate to Pieta House and its suicide prevention programmes, visit www.pieta.ie/donate.

Jack O’Toole