Frustrated Heffernan smashes Irish record

ROBERT HEFFERNAN was determined to keep his feet firmly on the ground yesterday after knocking 10 seconds off his old Irish record for the 20k walk at the European Cup in Leamington Spa on Sunday.

“In fact I am very disappointed that I did not get a medal,” he said, reflecting on how he saw his chances of taking a medal fade over the final 400m when he had the finish line firmly in his sights but had to settle for fifth position in 80 mins 15 secs.

It was on a day that saw the West Waterford athlete, Jamie Costin, slash 28 seconds off his previous best for 50k when he finished 15th in 3:53:30 to join Heffernan, young Colin Griffin and Olive Loughnane among the qualifiers for this year’s World Championships and next year’s Olympic Games in Beijing.