Home comforts put Heffernan on track

NOT too many witnessed Robert Heffernan clocking the fastest time in the world this year at 38 mins 48 secs in the 10,000m walk at the Munster Track and Field championships at the CIT track in Bishopstown.

After a “dodgy start” to the season in Mexico in mid-March, the 31-year- old Togher athlete had been searching for some semblance of the form that saw him finish eighth in the 20k walk at last year’s Olympic Games in Beijing or sixth in the world championships in Osaka a year earlier.

Since coming off an injury sustained in a freak accident early in the year, he was struggling. With his confidence at a low ebb, he pulled out of a race in Italy last weekend and decided to go back to his roots.