Irish Race Walker Rob Heffernan proved that his winter training is going well when he finished in 6th place in a 10k race walk in Barcelona today. 
The race had all the leading race walkers in Europe taking part and was won by European champion and world silver medalist Paquillo Fernandez in a fast time of 39 minutes and 38 seconds just ahead of Olympic champion Ivano Beugnetti in 2nd place. Heffernan's time was 40 minutes and 30 seconds which is exceptional as he is in the midst of a heavy training block in his preparation for a very important year in 2008. He leaves in late December for 2 weeks warm weather training and will return to compete in the AAI Games and the AAI Indoor championships in late January. GRAN PREMI DE CATALUNYA DE MARXA ATLÈTICA 10K 1 FERNANDEZ PELAEZ, FCO. JAVIER 77 ESPANYA 39,25 2 BRUGNETI, IVANO 76 ITÀLIA 39,32 3 TYSSE, ERIK 80 NORUEGA 39,48 4 MARKOV, ILYA 72 RÚSSIA 40,08 5 MU-5786 MOLINA MOROTE, JUAN MANUEL 79 ESPANYA 40,31 6 HEFFERMAN, ROBERT 78 IRLANDA 40,32 7 GANDELLINI, ALESSANDRO 73 ITÀLIA 40,38 8 GOULA, HATEM 73 TUNÍSSIA 41,27 Meanwhile the American collegiate season got underway with the McNeese State Invitational Men 3000 Meter Run Section 1: 1, Neil, Jordan, McNeese, 8:57.19. 4, Hoey, Mark, McNeese, 9:09.67. - McNeese State Invitational
The race had all the leading race walkers in Europe taking part and was won by European champion and world silver medalist Paquillo Fernandez in a fast time of 39 minutes and 38 seconds just ahead of Olympic champion Ivano Beugnetti in 2nd place. Heffernan's time was 40 minutes and 30 seconds which is exceptional as he is in the midst of a heavy training block in his preparation for a very important year in 2008. He leaves in late December for 2 weeks warm weather training and will return to compete in the AAI Games and the AAI Indoor championships in late January. GRAN PREMI DE CATALUNYA DE MARXA ATLÈTICA 10K 1 FERNANDEZ PELAEZ, FCO. JAVIER 77 ESPANYA 39,25 2 BRUGNETI, IVANO 76 ITÀLIA 39,32 3 TYSSE, ERIK 80 NORUEGA 39,48 4 MARKOV, ILYA 72 RÚSSIA 40,08 5 MU-5786 MOLINA MOROTE, JUAN MANUEL 79 ESPANYA 40,31 6 HEFFERMAN, ROBERT 78 IRLANDA 40,32 7 GANDELLINI, ALESSANDRO 73 ITÀLIA 40,38 8 GOULA, HATEM 73 TUNÍSSIA 41,27 Meanwhile the American collegiate season got underway with the McNeese State Invitational Men 3000 Meter Run Section 1: 1, Neil, Jordan, McNeese, 8:57.19. 4, Hoey, Mark, McNeese, 9:09.67. - McNeese State Invitational 
