Fagan seeks to impress

MARTIN FAGAN is hoping a big performance in today’s Manchester Road Race in Connecticut will impress the Irish selectors ahead of next month’s European cross-country championships in Albufeira.

The 4.75-mile race has been won by many Ireland’s household names — Eamonn Coghlan, John Treacy, Mark Carroll — and the Mullingar man added his name to the list in 2008.

Last year he broke Treacy’s national record for the half marathon with a 60:57 run in Holland and this year he ran 62:11 for fourth in the Rock’n Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon in New Orleans. But, after failing to come home for the national championships, he was not selected for the European championships.