TCD'S efforts to breed a superteam for this year's Challenging Times competition may yet bear fruit, following a performance last year which even people who are very poor indeed called "poor", causing speculation on the possible thinning of the TCD gene pool.
Last week, the students' union abandoned the system of previous years, which involved little more than asking questions of lots of groups of people over drinks in the Buttery Bar and then selecting the ones who were still coherent at the end.
Instead, it decided to model its selection process on the more professional attitude adopted by colleges such as Cork RTC, which use buzzers and quick fire questions to hone their competitors.
The result was that Ivan Morrin, who was one of the TCD representatives on the ill fated 1995-96 team and is now the secretary of the Central Societies Committee, has returned to the fray in an effort to salvage a little dignity from the wreckage of last year's ignominy.
The TCD team of Morrin CSC treasurer Tony Wall and Chris Mann qualified for the heats of this year's Challenging Times quiz following a final last week. The initial knockout rounds of Challenging Times commence tomorrow, and the successful teams will go on to participate in the televised competition. Good luck to all concerned.
