Rob Heffernan named Irish Athlete of the year...

It came as no great suprise that Rob Heffernan was named as the Irish Athlete of the Year at the National Athletics Awards in Dublin last night. Having finished 4th in the 50k race walk at the London Olympics, his performance was easily the best of the Irish squad at the Summer games. His time of 3:37.54 was also a new national record.

Some of the other recipients of awards were.....
Junior Athlete of the year........Mark English (Letterkenny AC) who had a remarkable 2012, a year in which he lowered the national junior 800m record to a blazing 1:45.77 and finished a brilliant fifth in a highly competitive World Junior Championship final.
Endurance Athlete Award.........Fionnuala Britton (Kilcoole AC) who won gold at the European Cross Country Championships in Slovenia last December. Britton was also thewinner of the Track and Field Athlete of the Year Award. She came agonizingly close to securing a bronze medal over 10,000m at the European Outdoor Championships in Helsinki, having to settle for fourth on that occasion. Britton went on to the London Olympics and placed 15th in the 10,000m and then returned a few days later to run a personal best of 15:12.97 in the heats of the 5,000m.
Inspirational performance of the year...........Steven Colvert (Crusaders AC) for his outstanding 20.40 second performance over 200m in the heats of the National Senior Championships in Santry. Although the wind was just above the allowable limit on that occasion Colvert is an exciting prospect and looks set for a bright future in the sport.
Special Recognition Award.......Jason Smyth (City of Derry AC) and Michael McKillop (St Malachy’s AC) who had outstanding performances at the Paralympics Games in London by winning double gold and setting two world records each.
The Master of the Year award...........Ciaran O ‘Doherty (Letterkenny AC) after claiming the gold medal at the 2012 World Indoor Masters Championships in the 3,000m in Finland.
The Mountain Runner of the Year...........Brian MacMahon (Clonliffe Harriers AC) who finished sixth at the World Mountain Running Long Distance Race in Switzerland.
The Ultra Running Award...........Ruthann Sheahan (Athenry AC) for her fifth place performance at the World 24 hour Championships.