McCarthy’s moment of destiny in Berlin

MARTIN McCARTHY faces his moment of destiny on Sunday when he lines up for his debut marathon in Berlin.

"I will be pleased if I get close to the Olympic qualifying standard (2:12.00). It is a fast course and that is why I chose it," he said. "And it comes at precisely the right time of the year. You can go back to Boston or London next spring if you want to."

The marathon has always been at the back of his mind and when he fulfilled a lifetime ambition by winning the national senior cross-country championships he decided the time was right for a change of emphasis.

"People had been telling me for seven years or more that I was a marathon runner and trying to convince me that I should run at least one to see how I would get on," he said.

And the preparation was no problem. He always enjoyed a big workload so it was just a matter of getting things organised.

"I decided to go into my first marathon at the lower end of the mileage scale rather than to go directly into heavy mileage," he said. "So no matter what happens on Sunday I know it is part of a learning process and I still have a lot of experimenting to do. I am not putting all my eggs in the one basket."

His longest run to date has been 24 miles and he has done a couple over 22 and 23 miles. His only other departure from regular routine was a visit to the Swiss Alps where he trained at altitude in Davos, close to St Moritz where the European elite base themselves those days.

"Maybe the only drawback was that I was doing everything more or less on my own but then I don't mind training on my own.

"In fact I prefer to do my harder sessions on my own. I think it toughens you mentally," he said.

"I enjoyed the preparations. This type of workload suits me and I like the longer stuff. Everything went well in Switzerland." When he returned he ran a half marathon in Bristol and mixed it with the Kenyans and led for a time before eventually finishing fourth.

"I was tired in Bristol and when I ran the 5k in Rathfarnham the following week I still felt tired. But I am fresh now. This week I am tapering off. I had my last long run at the weekend," he said.

The marathon is a new departure for the 30-year-old Corkman a former scholarship student at Iona College whose career has been punctuated by injury and illness.

On his return from the US, he added an extra dimension to the cross-country scene which was already graced by Clareman Séamus Power, and their head-to-head at the national inter-counties championships in the mud in Co Cavan, where Power, who has dominated this event for years, came back from an impossible position to retain the title.

But misfortune struck again and he missed a full year of competition when he hardly trained at all, but now he admits today that this might have been a godsend.

"When I came back the appetite was back. There were ambitions that had been left unfulfilled and while I was out I thought a lot about that," he said. "OK, it was difficult to get back and it took all of two years to get to where I was before.

"But winning the national cross-country title this year made it all worthwhile and I knew then that it was time to think seriously about the marathon. I had already been thinking about it but I knew the time had come."

No matter what happens next weekend, expect to see him back for the cross-country season and he already has his sights on a place in the team for the European championships in Edinburgh in December.

"All going well we can have a very good team there. Séamus (Power) is back and Alastair Cragg is a great addition to the squad," he said.