Heffernan pleased with Mexico display

ROBERT HEFFERNAN will train at altitude in South Africa for his next big assignment which is IAAF Race Walking Cup in Cheboksary, Russia, on May 10, following what he described as “a good, strong performance” in Mexico at the weekend.

The Togher athlete duplicated his world championship placing when he finished sixth in the first race-walking Grand Prix of the year in Chihuahua in a time of 1:23:45 but that time does not reflect the significance of the performance which had him just three seconds behind the world champion, Jefferson Perez (Ecuador).

The 20k race was won by local hero, Eder Sanchez, in 1:22:53 from Juan Manuel Molina (Spain), 1:23:06 and Erick Tysse (Norway), 1:23:13.