Fagan rewarded with grant after sealing Beijing qualification
Pat Hickey, President of the OCI, said they could not have found a more fitting recipient than Fagan who was making his marathon debut when achieving the standard.
“Martin Fagan’s grant kicks off our Olympic Year Bursary programme in style,” the OCI President said. “The programme is fully funded from our corporate sponsorship income”.
“We plan to distribute several more bursaries to deserving athletes in the coming months and will primarily focus on athletes who we feel are financially disadvantaged”.
“For example, in Martin Fagan’s case he relied on funding from the Mullingar Lions Club to pay for his air ticket to the Dubai Marathon, where he battled through the pain barrier to achieve Olympic qualification”.
Martin Fagan said that the grant was very welcome as it would enable him to give up his part-time job in Arizona in order to focus fully on doing well in Beijing.
“I expect the Beijing marathon to be highly competitive but my strategy is to run a lot smarter during the race now that I have achieved the qualification time. I have a lot more to offer and Beijing will be a great experience for me. My ultimate goal is to do well for Ireland in Beijing and to use the experience for my main goal, London 2012”.
This week Martin will come under the medical care of the Olympic Council’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Sean Gaine, and Medical Officer, Dr Rod McLoughlin, and is expected to use the facilities of the Mater Private and Cappagh Hospitals in order to sort out lower back and hip problems.
He also plans to run the 10,000m at the Olympics — following the path which led John Treacy to his Olympic silver medal in the marathon in Los Angeles.
On Friday he found himself somewhat isolated when the field was split by Haile Gebrselassie in pursuit of the world record and the $1million (€690,000) purse on offer.
“There were no clocks along the way and I probably went out a bit too fast,” Fagan admitted.
“I went through halfway under 65 minutes but I felt comfortable enough.
“In fact I did not feel too bad at all until the 25k mark when I got this pain in my lower back and hip and from there on it was a struggle.
“I knew that I was well inside the target so I was able to relax and slow down a bit. I got through it OK and I was delighted with the run.
“Now I want to get things sorted out and see about getting back into the States. I want to get the qualifying standard for 10,000m and my plan is to do that at Stanford in April.”
He was denied re-entry to the US after travelling to Spain to represent Ireland in the European cross-country championships in Toro in December.
The last Mullingar Harrier to make the Olympics was Cormac Finnerty who competed in the 10,000m in Atlanta.
The schools cross-country season kicks off this week with the South Munster championships at Midleton CBS on Friday (12pm).
The KitKat Munster Schools Championships depart from the traditional weekend date and will now be staged on Thursday, February 7, at Tramore Racecourse.
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