Robert Heffernan at the 2007 IAAF World Championships (© Getty Images)
The Woodie’s DIY Indoor Championships of Ireland which were taking place this weekend in Belfast, Northern Ireland, witnessed a record breaking spree of results.
Day One
The championships got off to the best possible start on Saturday (26) when Robert Heffernan from Togher took a second off his own national indoor Race walk 5000m record. Having already qualified for the Beijing Olympics at 20km Heffernan had set his sights on the best possible build-up for an event that he is more than capable of holding his own with the best in the world.
Just back after a serious training stint in Spain Heffernan set about the race in a manner that saw him lap everyone at least twice, and the crowd really got behind the Togher man, urging him forward, and appreciating they were witnessing something special.
Heffernan has finally realised that competing at the highest level means that he no longer does anything wild on the training ground.
“It’s all about staying healthy”, he said after the race. “There is really no need to overdo it in training. After all, I’m not doing any more than I was doing at this time last year.”
The women’s 3000m Race Walk was a very close affair won by Zuzanna Malakova of Slovakia in 12:55.50, who led home Ireland’s Olive and Ann in 13:05.16 and 14:01 respectively.
Kelly Proper from Ferrybank set the second record of the day when she added 3cm to her own Irish Long Jump record which she set just two weeks ago in Nenagh. Her 6.28m leap provided a dominant victory for the 19-year-old.
Gareth Turnbull had an easy and impressive 8:06 win in the men's 3000m.
Day Two
The day opened with a Championships’ Best Performance in the Shot Put by Kieran Kelly of the Fr. Murphy club with a best of 18.20m, and he followed up with a second effort over 18m – 18.09m.
In the women’s 60m dash, Britain’s Anyia Onoura was the victor (7.38 sec) ahead of Ailis McSweeney (7.46) though none of the finalists were happy with the start.
In the men’s 60m Hurdles, Peter Coghlan clocked 7.80 seconds for a new Championship’s Best Performance, after clocking 7.88 in his heat.
In the High Jump, American Jamie Nieto set a new Irish All Comers record of 2.26m.
Ryan Montgomery for the IAAF
