Derval eyes March return

WORLD champion Derval O’Rourke is confident of defending her 60m indoor hurdles title in Valencia in March despite being sidelined with a foot injury.

O’Rourke was forced to withdraw from this weekend’s Woodie’s DIY Irish Indoor Championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast on the advice of renowned sports injury therapist, Gerard Hartmann.

She hopes a two week lay-off will heal the problem, a bruised bone.

“It is looking good. After it happened an ultra sound showed fluid on the bone but I had another ultra sound done on Monday and there was absolutely no fluid there at all. The doctor told me that had I continued to train on it I could have ended up with a stress fracture which would be far more serious.”

She admitted Hartmann had difficulty convincing her of the need to rest the foot or jeopardise her season.

“I had to look at the greater picture, after all this is Olympics year,” she said.

“Right now I am doing what I have been told to do. I had been looking forward so much to competing in the indoors in Belfast at the weekend especially since my training had gone so well. I mean I trained through October, November and December and right up to January 15 I did not have so much as a niggle. It was great. I am in such great shape right now I really want to race.”

She added: “I had hoped for a couple of races to get the season going and Belfast was one of those. With Sarah (Claxton) and Jenny (Kallur) in there it is going to be a really good race. But I am already looking to the future. According to Ger (Hartmann) I should be ready to start training again on February 4 — all going well — and I would say that I will be ready to compete seven to 10 days later.

“If that goes all right for me then the world championships are a priority because I feel that I am in shape to defend my title in Valencia.”

Meanwhile Irish Olympic hammer hopeful, Eileen O’Keefe yesterday returned to her roots as she launched the 2008 KitKat Irish Schools Athletics programme at Belfield. O’Keefe, who started her athletics career in schools athletics, in her native Kilkenny, said that this had played a significant part in her overall development as an athlete.

“Kitkat Irish Schools’ Athletics has played a major role in developing and shaping my career,” O’Keefe said.

‘‘The programme provided me with a solid foundation for competing on the world stage and with the discipline necessary to achieve success.”

The Kilkenny athlete-tipped as Ireland’s best prospect for an athletics medal in the Beijing Olympics, is delighted with the way her current training preparations are progressing.

“Last year was a dream year for me and it surpassed all my expectations,” she said. “I will be very happy if I perform as well this year. Olympic medals are not easily won and all I can do is give it my best shot and take it as it comes.”

O’Keefe is happy with her winter training so far — especially with the strength training she has completed under the guidance of Dave Fagan from Leinster Rugby.

“Dave helps me with my strength and conditioning work and at the technical end I plan on basically using the same style that brought me success last year. I did visit hammer legend Yori Sedik for some advice, but the technical points that he brought up do not seem to suit my style. I have therefore decided not to waste valuable time and stick with what I know best and what has worked for me.”