World 50km Race Walking Champion Rob Heffernan (Togher AC) will lead the Irish Team at the prestigious IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Taicang, China from the 3rd -4th May. Heffernan made his competitive comeback on the Race Walking Circuit at the Lugano Race Walking Grand Prix in Switzerland last month (March 16th). He finished fifth in the 20km race in Lugano in a time of 1.20.57. Heffernan has recently returned from a three week training camp at altitude in Johannesburg and will use the race in China to further his preparations for the 50km Race Walk at the European Track & Field Championships in Zurich in August.
Brendan Boyce (Letterkenny AC), Luke Hickey (UCC) and Cian McManamon (Westport AC) will join Heffernan on the team in China. Olympian and World Championship representative Boyce has also been on camp in Johannesburg fine tuning his preparations for the race in China. Boyce who finished in 63rd place at the World Cup two years ago will target an improvement on that performance at the 2014 event.
At the end of the 2013 season Hickey was ranked amongst the top 15 junior’s in Europe while McManamon was also inside the top 15 at U23 level. Both of these young up and coming athletes will test themselves against the very best race walkers in the World as they both make their debuts at World Cup level.
Olympian Laura Reynolds (Mohill AC) will be the sole Irish representative in the 20km women’s race. Reynolds is coming off the back of a solid sixth place finish in the 20km race at the Grand Prix in Podebrady, Czech Republic on April 13th. Reynolds like Heffernan will be using the World Cup event as part of her preparations for the European Championships.
Men’s 20km Team
Name Club Coach
Rob Heffernan (Togher AC) Marian Heffernan
Brendan Boyce (Letterkenny AC) Rob Heffernan
Luke Hickey (UCC AC) Rob Heffernan
Cian McManamon (Westport AC) Michael Doyle
Women’s Individual 20km
Name Club Coach
Laura Reynolds (Mohill and District A.C.) Colin Griffin
Team Support
Team Manager – Patsy McGonagle
Team Physio – Emma Gallivan
Team Support – Ray Flynn
Article taken from Athletics Ireland
