Heffernan breaks his own record

ROBERT HEFFERNAN continued his sensational build-up to the Olympic Games by knocking 20 seconds off his national record for the 10,000m walk at the Woodies DIY national senior track and field championships yesterday.

The 30-year-old Togher racewalker set his third national record this year when he retained his 10,000m title in 38 mins 27.57 secs — he set the old record at 38:47.66 at the championships in 2002.

Yesterday’s performance gave a much needed lift to the national championships with other Beijing-bound athletes absent from the track. Recovering Joanne Cuddihy gave the championships a miss while David Gillick, the men’s 400m record holder, withdrew from the men’s 400m still troubled by the niggle in his knee. Alistair Cragg, who ran a superb 3,000m in Paris on Friday night, withdrew from the 5,000m final complaining of stomach problems and a high temperature.

But Robert Heffernan walked to perfection once again — getting faster and faster as the race progressed — to finish a lap ahead of in-form 50k Olympic walker, Jamie Costin.

“I was so nervous before today — because of having such a bad race the last day in La Coruna — and then just being away training for the full month you become a bit detached,” he said. “And I knew Jamie (Costin) had trained very well in Font Romeau. But they were good nerves because I had the hunger back. I could convert it into energy and all that energy out when I raced.

“I was ready to race today. It was important to win first off and then when Jamie dropped off I turned my attention to breaking the record.”

He said yesterday’s record breaking performance was the perfect boost ahead of his departure for Beijing.

“Beijing is going to be different,” he said. “You have to be a 78-79 minute walker to compete at the top. I said at the start of the year that I had to get my times for 5k and 10k down. I did an Irish record over 5k in Belfast and now I have done it over 10k.

“I wanted to break the record today. I did that. And it’s just a brilliant indicator for the Olympics knowing that I have the speed to mix it with the big guys. I came home faster than I went out today so I was doing negative splits which is another good indicator. I am stronger now and it is just a matter of staying injury free and being relaxed and happy going into the Olympics.”

And, to round off a perfect day, his girlfriend, Marian Andrews (Togher AC) won the women’s 400m title in a new personal best time of 53.97 secs with Elaine McCaffrey (Abbey AC) second, 55.48, and Christina Broderick (Belgooly AC) third, 56.89. Olive Loughnane (Loughrea AC), who has had a series of pb performances this season, added another to the list when she won the women’s 5,000m walk in 21:07.28 on Saturday to maintain her steady progress towards Beijing.