Heffernan braced for tough Euro challenge

Inside the top six at the Olympic Games, multiple European and World Championships competitor and still Rob Heffernan continues in his quest to secure a first international medal.

Tomorrow may well bring an end to that wait.

Heffernan competes in the 20km at the European Cup in Dudince, Slovakia with more than a sporting chance of finally garnering that podium place.

The Cork man finished ninth over this distance in London — the third European home — so expectations are more than justified. Heffernan, however, says its not as simple as black and white.

“It will be very competitive because unlike the Olympics each nation can send five athletes. This means that I will have to contend with five Russians, five Italians and five Spaniards which makes it a lot tougher to finish at the top end of the field. Furthermore, you will have a lot of athletes competing who are looking to peak here, whereas I am using it as a warm-up for Moscow later in the summer.”

Preparations ahead of the race have been less than ideal as a recent chest infection meant a valuable week of training was lost. That said, the 35-year old is optimistic: “Winter training went very well, but then three weeks ago I was struck down with a chest infection. I had to pull out of a race in Italy so it was a definitely a setback to my preparations for this weekend.

“I spent the last two weeks in Spain and they went extremely well. You never know, the chest infection could prove a blessing in disguise.”

At the very minimum, Heffernan will be looking to better his season’s best of 1:21:59, set down earlier this year in Lugano, Switzerland, some two and a half minutes outside his PB. “I’m looking for a decent time, something around the 1:20 mark is what I’d be hoping for. I’ll give it a lash and hopefully it works out. At the end of the day however, everything I do this weekend is geared towards the World Championships in Moscow.”

Given his London exploits over 50km where the Corkman shaved over seven minutes off his PB, the longer distance is undoubtedly where Heffernan is strongest, but the compact timetable of this weekend’s competition makes it impossible to double-up. “I had never planned to compete in the 50km at this event. There is much higher intensity at 20km compared to 50km so I want to keep in touch with that level of intensity at this stage of the season. Also, there is a massive recovery period after 50km and to do two of them in the one season is extremely challenging.”

There will be one other green singlet in the 20km race, Letterkenny’s Brendan Boyce, a student of Heffernan’s: “Brendan moved down to Cork this year and has been progressing well. He had a good PB there recently and this race will be good experience for him.” Luke Hickey, who is competing in the Junior 10km, is also under the guise of the multiple Irish record holder.

IRISH TEAM: Rob Heffernan (20km), Brendan Boyce (20km), Micheal Doyle (50km), Laura Reynolds (20km), Luke Hickey (Junior 10km) and Evan Lynch (Junior 10km).