Race walker Heffernan back on top

AFTER turning in world class performances over 10k and 5k in previous weeks, Robert Heffernan transferred the form to the classic distance in Copenhagen on Saturday when he won the Scandinavian 20k race walking championship in 82 mins 24 secs to post the “A” standard for next year’s world championships.

The fact that he can forget about standards and get down to preparing for the world championships was a bonus. The target was to get himself back on a Sports Council Grants after a frustrating year of injuries that required two operations just to get him walking again.

“I was under savage pressure,” he admitted back home in Cork yesterday. “I had to get the A standard or I was off the grants. Training at this level just has to be a full-time occupation.