Robert gets set to walk tall

ROBERT HEFFERNAN is ready to deliver the performance of his lifetime in tomorrow morning’s (7.05 am Irish time) 20k walk, which gets the European Championships under way in Barcelona.

The 32-year-old Togher man has been mixing it in this company throughout his career and now his sports masseur, Liam O’Reilly, who has been overseeing his preparations for this assignment, insists he is ready to win a medal.

Valeriy Borchin (Russia), barely 22 years of age, became the youngest ever Olympic walking champion in Beijing and, after claiming another gold medal at last year’s world championships, he will be the raging hot favourite to complete the hat-trick.