In-form Heffernan out to retain national title

ROBERT HEFFERNAN entered a new realm at the European Championships last year when he followed up his fourth place in the 20k walk with fourth in the 50k walk, putting himself amongst the medal favourites for next year’s Olympic Games in the process.

It’s not surprising then that he is looking forward to defending his 30k title at the Woodies DIY national walk championships around the Marina Circuit in Cork (10am).

He had just returned off his honeymoon when he won the title in the Phoenix Park in December 2009 in a time of 2 hrs 14 mins and while his current training programme is built around speed work, he is hoping to better that for his Cork supporters.

“I spent a month training in Australia in December/January and it went really well,” he said. “The weather was perfect and we made it a home from home. Since then I’ve spent 10 days in Spain and while the weather was poor enough, I got in some good training.”

The presence of Colin Griffin will ensure a competitive race and the field will also include Brendan Boyce (Milford AC) and David Kidd (St Laurence O’Toole AC), second and third to Heffernan last year, and Michael Doyle (Tara AC).

Fans will also have an opportunity to see Kate Veale in action. The West Waterford athlete has broken two indoor records already this year and was fourth in last year’s Youth Olympics.

Heffernan, for his part, is hoping crowds will turn out not just to watch the races, but to take part in the special 3km “Fit4Life” walk.

“Children can take part and they can even take the dog along if they want,” he said. “There will be ‘goody’ bags for everyone and refreshments. It should be a great day and will be even bigger next year because we intend to make it an annual event.”

As well as the Men’s 30k and Women’s 20k championships, the programme includes 5k Development races for boys and girls under 13, 15 and 17, a 10k Development race for Junior Men and Women and the “Fit4Life” 3k walk, which is open to everyone.