In-form Heffernan back on track for Lille meet

AFTER some spectacular performances on the road over the past three months, racewalker Robert Heffernan (Togher AC) returns to the track on Friday night when he will compete in a 5k event at the Grand Prix meeting in Lille.

On Saturday he was again inside the Olympic qualifying standard when he finished 10th (1:28.38) in the 20k at the Grand Prix in La Caruna.

“I was disappointed with La Caruna,” he said. “But I just could not get psyched up for the race at all. Robert (Korzeniowski) gave me a right telling off.” European indoor 400m champion David Gillick faded to finish seventh (46.33 secs) in the 400m at the Norwich Union Classic in Glasgow at the weekend.

The big disappointment of the weekend, however was in the 5,000 metres at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York where Alistair Cragg failed to finish in soaring temperatures. Martin Fagan from Mullingar finished 14th while Mary Cullen was outside her best when finishing ninth in the women’s 5,000m.

There were a number of personal best performances for Irish athletes competing in Neerpelt, Belgium over the weekend. David McCarthy had a new personal best for 800m when finishing seventh in 1:48.63 while Eoin Everard from Kilkenny posted a new personal best at 1:49.05 for 10th place in the same race.

Orla Drumm (UCC) had a new best of 4:19.26 when finishing third in the 1,500m where Ciana Durkan had a best of 4:24.56 for 11th and Killian Lonergan had a new best for 15th in the 10,000m. Brona Furlong won the 400m hurdles in 61.45 secs.

At the Boston High Performance Series in Bentley College Charlie Dewey won the 400m in 48.57 while in the 1,500m Breffini Twohig finished sixth in 4:40.32.

Ciara Sheehy was sixth in the 100m in 12.14 secs and third in the 200m in 23.96 in Dessau, Germany, while in Kalamata, Greece, where Paul Hession set a new Irish record to win the men’s 100m, Anna Boyle finished sixth in the women’s 100m in 12.00 secs and third in the 200m in 24.76.