Loughnane and Heffernan lead classy Grand Prix field
Heffernan faces Olympic 50km gold medallist Alex Schwazer of Italy while Loughnane’s main opposition comes from another Italian, Elisa Riguado, who won bronze in the 20km in China last year – 30 seconds ahead of the Cork-based Galway walker.
Also included in the line-up for the women’s 20km walk is Susana Feitor (Portugal) who finished fifth at the world championships in Osaka in 2007, Dublin-based Slovakian record holder, Zuzana Malikova, along with competitors from Mexico, Guatemala, Sweden, Hungary, Portugal and Brazil.
Loughnane, who finished seventh in Beijing where the top 12 broke the old Olympic record, said: “It is great to get a race like this on home ground. The field is fantastic and the Dublin course is very good.”
After the drama of last year – her 1:27:45 in Beijing would have won an Olympic medal in any other Games – her ambition for 2009 was to consolidate her top eight position at the world championships in Berlin in August. But she may raise the bar after finishing fourth in the European Cup in Metz behind the Spaniard, Maria Vasco.
“I want to keep getting better and I want to get higher up those placings. This year was about consolidation – I want to stay up in the top eight.”
Not just her finishing position but her time – 1:27:45 – in Beijing last year has boosted her confidence.
“I have that experience behind me now,” she said. “The fact that I had not gone under 90 minutes before made me very cautious in the race. Now if I was put in that situation again I would react differently.”
She continued: “The world championships are only six weeks away so it is very important to get in some decent competition and from the strength of the field we should get good value for a few laps. The fact that the race is here in Ireland with the weather so good at the moment is a bonus.”
Ireland has four walkers qualified for this year’s world championships with Jamie Costin and Colin Griffin qualified for the 50km and they will all compete over 20km in Dublin as part of their preparation.
Togher athlete Heffernan also impressed at the Olympics, finishing eighth in a very competitive men’s 20km event. He finished fourth in Metz where Georgio Rubino led an Italian clean sweep of the medals in 1:24:06.
Heffernan, who had the bronze medal in his grasp up to the final 200m finished a close fourth in 1:25:21. He was delighted with his performance after a slow start to the season although he had set the fastest time in the world for 10km on the track at the Munster championships at the CIT track in Cork.
He admitted: “I’ve had a few niggles throughout the season but thankfully everything is going well again and this will be crucial to my Berlin preparations.”
Ireland’s other two qualifiers for Berlin, Jamie Costin and Colin Griffin will also compete over their shorter distance of 20km in preparation for the 50km in Germany. A development squad will also be selected to be part of Small Nations’ Race Walking Championships which will run concurrently with the Grand Prix event.
Meanwhile top-ranked Mexican walker Eder Sanchez will compete at the 58th Cork City Sports on July 4.
The Mexican will go head to head with Heffernan who is attempting to break his own national record for 3000m at the Mardyke. Heffernan will be making his Cork City Sports debut as he was injured on the only previous occasion in 2003 that a walk formed part of the programme.
The Woodie’s DIY Junior and U23 Track and Field championships will take place in Tullamore tomorrow when a number of athletes will aim for selection for next month’s European junior championships (Serbia) and U23 championships in Lithuania.
The Irish schools inter-provincial will bring top schools intermediate athletes together at Tullamore track this afternoon.
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