OLIVE LOUGHNANE has been forced out of this weekend’s Woodies DIY Irish indoor championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast with injury.

IT is easy to forget that only two years ago, Olive Loughnane was the 12th fastest female race-walker in the world over 20k. But the statistic seemed to get lost in the hysteria after her team-mate and friend Gillian O’Sullivan claimed a world championship silver in Paris.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN will complete his build-up to the European Championships in Helsinki when he defends his 10,000m race walking title at the Woodies DIY National Championships at Morton Stadium tomorrow.