The next few weeks are vital for Rob Heffernan’s season, as he bids to forget recent surgeries and prepare to defend his world championship title in the 50km Walk.

A late withdrawal from the National Indoor Championships, Ciarán Ó Lionaird reflects instead on the dunes of Owenahincha — and Tallahassee in Florida. 

Athletics guru Brother John Dooley has been attending All-Ireland Schools Track and Field Championships for more than 40 years, and the magical appeal of the showpiece is still as strong as ever.

With a display of powerful running, Sean Tobin removed two of the longest standing records from the books at the Munster Schools Championships which took place at the Cork IT Athletics Stadium.

IT WAS supposed to be his dream house in the perfect estate to raise a family.

Before the Off the Ball team went off the air, Jerry Kiernan went off the wall on the show.

Athletics Ireland High Performance director Kevin Ankrom is “excited” about the prospect of hiring a national endurance coach — Ireland’s first full-time athletics coach — whom he hopes to identify next week after the interview process concludes today.

More than 100 Irish and UK investors in a property in China have brought court proceedings over an alleged “secret profit” of €8m made by the promoters of the investment.

Ireland’s Olympic Team manager said last night the women’s 4x400m relay team will put the controversy that embroiled the squad behind them and move forward towards their goal — a place in the Olympic final.

Sarah O’Shea (Beara Community School) quit athletics at 12 years of age to concentrate on football.

Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia yesterday smashed the course record when he cruised to victory in the SPAR Great Ireland Run in Dublin’s Phoenix Park yesterday.

Ciarán Ó Lionáird took his track education to a new level at the USA Track and Field Classic in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Saturday night when finishing fifth in the featured men’s mile in 3:54.76.

Ireland’s brightest middle distance runners will be on parade in the US this weekend.

A COMPANY has brought High Court proceedings arising from an alleged deal in which €30m, plus fees, was raised from about 110 Irish and British investors in 2006 and 2007 for purchase of a block of apartments in Shanghai, China.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN got his preparations for London 2012 back on track at the IAAF Racewalking Challenge Final in La Coruna on Saturday, breaking his own national record for the 10k walk when finishing sixth behind the world and Olympic champion, Valeriy Borchin, in 39:19.

FOLLOWING medal successes at the world youth and European U23 championships, Ciara Mageean (City of Lisburn) will be one of the favourites at the women’s European junior 1,500m final in Tallinn on Thursday morning.

WHEN David McCarthy finished third in the Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving Day, medal hopes for Ireland’s U23 men’s team at Sunday’s European cross-country championships in Albufeira shot through the roof.

MARTIN FAGAN is hoping a big performance in today’s Manchester Road Race in Connecticut will impress the Irish selectors ahead of next month’s European cross-country championships in Albufeira.

HIS sensational victory in last Saturday’s South Regional Cross-Country Championships in Hoover, Alabama will send Corkman Ciarán Ó Lionáird into Monday’s NCAAs among the medal favourites.

CIARÁN Ó LIONÁIRD (Leevale AC) finished a close-up fourth in the tough ACC Conference meet at Franklin Park, Boston, where less than four seconds separated the top four finishers.

NEVER before has an Irish team carried so many medal hopes intoa major athletics championship – hopes that were reinforced by an air of optimism as the squad of 33 began to assemble at their base in Barcelona yesterday for the European championships.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN will have his sights on a medal when he puts the finishing touches to his European Championship preparations at the Irish team’s holding camp in Murcia today, although the Cork man has been keeping very much to himself since embarking on this mission.

A driver who left his dying friend in a car which he crashed after consuming up to eight drinks has been jailed for four years by Judge Frank O'Donnell in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

MARK CARROLL, who held national records from 3,000m to 10,000m and represented Ireland on the track at every level up to and including two Olympic Games, will make a belated European cross-country championship debut in Brussels next month.

ANDREW LEDWITH turned in the finest performance of his career to date when he finished third in the NCAA championships at Indiana State University yesterday.

IRELAND’S men’s under-23 team are capable of winning medals at this year’s European Cross-Country Championships, according to Mark Carroll.

DAVID GILLICK was returning to the scene of last year’s record-breaking performance when he raced in Geneva and, while the record he set there remains intact at 45.23 secs, his 45.65 sec opener was spectacular.

PAUL HESSION will make an eagerly-awaited seasonal debut next week in Malmo, Sweden, where the Athenry sprinter will try to repeat last year’s record-breaking opener.

MARK CARROLL has been appointed the US Athlete Manager for Athletics Ireland.

Irish 10,000 metre runner Mark Carroll has been named as Athletics Ireland's new US Athlete Manager.

ALISTAIR CRAGG is, as yet, undecided about competing in the world indoor championships in Valencia next month.

GARETH TURNBULL, Mary Cullen and Maria McCambridge will not contest Sunday’s European cross-country championships in Toro, Spain.

Alistair Cragg got over the disappointment of missing last weekend's National Championships by running the fastest 3,000 metres of his career tonight at the IAAF Super Grand Prix meeting in Monaco.

IF YOU ever wondered how fast you could run a mile you can find out and, in the process, help a very worthy charity by participating in the SPAR Mile Challenge in your area over the coming weekend.

Headline acts Derval O’Rourke and David Gillick will both want to forget today's 56th running of the Cork City Sports in a hurry.

ALISTAIR CRAGG was yesterday basking in the glory of a new Irish record he set on Sunday when he smashed Mark Carroll’s national 10,000m mark with a 27:39.55 run at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational meeting in Stanford University, California.

Alistair Cragg has smashed Mark Carroll's Irish 10,000m record by seven seconds.

WORLD indoor 60m hurdles champion Derval O’Rourke will be among the stars present when her club Leevale AC celebrates its 40th anniversary on Sunday week.

MAX JONES, Ireland’s new Director of Athletics and the man entrusted with the task of breathing new life into the sport, will soon travel around the country to meet the coaches and volunteers.

VICTORIA MITCHELL, her training partner, won the race but Sonia O’Sullivan won the hearts of the thousands who turned out to watch her final road race in Ireland in Dublin’s Phoenix Park yesterday.

THIS will not be her last race — far from it — but it will be the last time Sonia O’Sullivan competes in theBUPA Great Ireland Run.

A special "Blessing of the Roads Ceremony" has taken place during Easter Masses and Services throughout the country today.

ALISTAIR CRAGG faces one of the most important assignments of his career when defending his European indoor 3,000m title in Birmingham this afternoon (3.40pm).