Heffernan heralds return with excellent third-place finish in Krakow

ROBERT HEFFERNAN is back on the road and heralded his return by finishing third in a 10k race in Krakow at the weekend behind Ilya Markov (Russia), silver medallist in the Olympics in 1996, and the 2004 Olympic silver medallist, Francisco Fernandez (Spain).

It was a dramatic return to competitive race walking by the Togher athlete who went to the line after a year of frustration. He had two hernia operations — and attempted to lead all the way despite the fact that he was taking on the two top-ranked 20k race walkers in the world.

“It was one of my best ever performances,” he insisted yesterday. “I raced in Spain three weeks ago — my first race in 13 months — and I felt really bad. I was like a fish out of water and it came as a shock to me because I had been going very well in training and usually when I am going well in training I have no difficulty transferring it into my racing. I was fuming.

“Maybe it was a crazy thing for me to do but I went out to lead the race in Poland. I told myself those two guys were going to be first and second anyway so my plan was to burn off everyone else and that’s what I did.

“I thought I had lost all that youthful madness a long time ago but I gave it my best shot and I felt brilliant all the way. The race was over a lot of cobblestones and it was a really difficult course so I was delighted with the way it went.”

After the world championships in Helsinki last year he knew he had a serious problem. “I knew there was something very much amiss. I was treated for a number of things and then, by the process of elimination, I discovered I had a hernia,” he said.

That was quickly dealt with by the Meath All-Ireland football midfielder, Gerry McEntee, now one of the country’s top surgeons, but he was not long back on his feet when the problem recurred.

“I just knew it was the same problem, just that it was on the other side. I rang Gerry and told him. He had a long list of patients but, when I assured him I knew it was the same problem, he agreed to see me. He diagnosed a bilateral hernia, operated on it and in a very short time I was back training.

“It felt so good just to be able to train because for months I could see no light at all at the end of the tunnel. It was so frustrating. But I got back training and my form returned quickly. I really felt I was ready to race in Spain but that turned out bad. Then I went to Krakow where Robert (Korzeniowski) was organising the race. The race and the result worked wonders for my confidence. It feels great to be able to compete again.”

He will have his first 20k race in Denmark on October 7 as a guest in the Scandinavian championships.

“I need to get a marker right now,” he said. “I don’t have any funding so I am hoping to work towards that. I need to get back on the grants.”

He is coached by three-time Olympic champion Robert Korzeniowski from Poland, who won’t be giving him any time off.

“He wants me to have just three weeks of easy training after that and then get back into my preparations for next year,” he said. “It will be another important year for me.”