Rob Heffernan, the World, Olympic, and European medallist has been announced as the key speaker at Athletics Ireland’s fifth meeting of the Endurance Coaches Network (ECN), on Saturday 30th September in Athlone, Ireland.

Heffernan, the Irish international race walker who won gold at the World Championships in 2013 and Olympic bronze at the Rio Games in 2012 will hold an interactive Q&A session and share all, giving coaches an opportunity to learn from his vast amount of experience and knowledge.

Steve Macklin, Athletics Ireland Coach Education Lead for Endurance said: “I am extremely excited about ECN 5 as we have four experts presenting on the day all sharing valuable knowledge/experience that will impact coaches of all levels. We have a nice mix of presentations and practical workshops so everyone will be catered for. I am especially excited to have our world champion Robert Heffernan in attendance, he has a vast amount of experience and knowledge to share with us all.”

Heffernan, 39, most recently finished eighth in the 50km race walk at the recent World Championship in London and coaches interested in attending to question the European Bronze medalist must first register and send in their questions in advance.

Also presenting is Brian Sweeney a high-performance coach from swimming, giving us his insights into lessons learned throughout his career. This will be a different twist hearing from an endurance coach from another sport. At this event also there will be a large emphasis on physical preparation work for athletes with practical workshops led by Martina McCarthy and Paul Carragher.

The event program will focus on giving coaches practical information that they can take away and use to help improve their own coaching practice and will be delivered through presentations and practical workshops. There will be time for question & answers at all sessions also. If you are a club coach, development coach or a performance coach then this event has something to offer you. The (ECN) will bring the coaching community together to gain & share knowledge and more importantly to network with each other. It will be hosted in the excellent surroundings of Athlone IT and run from 9:00 am to 5:15 pm.

The (ECN) will bring the coaching community together to gain & share knowledge and more importantly to network with each other. It will be hosted in the excellent surroundings of Athlone IT and run from 9:00 am to 5:15 pm.

“The practical workshops are also very relevant to our endurance coaches especially those working with juveniles & juniors. This is an opportunity for all coaches to learn or refresh on current coaching methods and more importantly to network with each other,” added Mackin.

“The layout of the day is very relevant to all endurance coaches in Ireland and I encourage all coaches to attend. You are investing in your own athletes by doing so.”

Coaches can now register here for the Athlone IT event for €30 and registration will close on Wednesday 27th September at midnight. Places are limited to 80 coaches only. The full timetable can be found here and speaker bios are available here.