Martin Fagan runs Olympic qualifying time in Zurich marathon

Martin Fagan has just completed the Zurich Marathon in a time of 2h 16m 09s which is inside the qualifying time of 2:17 required for the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Finishing in 11th place overall, Martin went through the half marathon mark in 1:06:16. Just to give you a better idea of how fast that is, a 1:06:16 half is 5:03 min/mile pace. A 2:16:09 full is 5:12 min/mile pace.

This will be a controversial result considering that he served a 2 year ban for taking EPO and there is likely to be a pretty mixed reaction to this.

More info in this interview with Feidhlim Kelly who writes athletics articles for the Irish Examiner

Martin Fagan & Lizzie Lee win Waterford Half-Marathon..Sat 6th Dec 2014

One of the biggest races in Munster over the weekend was of course the Half-Marathon in Waterford. Over the years, the local club Waterford AC have built this up and it has gone from a few hundred a few years ago to just over 1500 last Saturday.

The mens race was won by the somewhat controversial figure of Martin Fagan who served a 2 year ban for taking the performance enhancing drug EPO. He was over 4 minutes ahead of the rest of the field at the finish and won in an impressive time of 1:04:16. This was also a new course record and was over 2 minutes ahead of the old record of 1:06:37.

In the womens race, Lizzie Lee of Leevale AC was in flying form just 5 months after the birth of her first child. Not only did she record a new personal best time of 1:14:30 but she also broke the old course record by a huge 3m 33s.

Links to results and photos on the Running in Munster site.

Guest Article...The Manchester Road Race - Cork Connection With Famous Race

Today is of course the Thanksgiving Holiday in the United States. There are many races on today in the US as a result and one of the most famous is the Manchester Road Race in Connecticut. The following article was written by John Walshe of Ballycotton about an Irish connection with the event.

CORK CONNECTION WITH FAMOUS RACE ...By John Walshe

The fourth Thursday of November is known as Thanksgiving Day across the United States of America and is a national holiday. Along with the traditional roast turkey dinner, the day is marked by a number of long-established sporting events, including some of the oldest road races in the world.

One such event takes place in Manchester, Connecticut, and will today celebrate its 78th anniversary. Irish runners have played their part in the cherished roll of honour associated with this famous race, amongst them Corkman Mark Carroll. 

In connection with the 2011 75th anniversary race, a 176 page full-colour publication entitled ‘The Manchester Road Race: A Seventy-Five Year Celebration’ was published and the heading on page 158 honoured Carroll and his American-born wife, Amy Rudolph – it simply refers to the couple as “Mr & Mrs Road Race.” The Olympians, who married in 2005, have a combined total of seven Thanksgiving Day victories to their credit over the 4.748-mile route which has been used since the inaugural event began way back in 1927. Mark’s victories came in 1998 and 2000, the latter occasion also seeing Amy taking her inaugural title. His time on both occasions was 21:49 and between 1996 and 2010, Carroll could also boast of three second place finishes and was always a contender for top honours. After finishing runner-up in the two previous races, Carroll’s victory in 1998 in the drenching rain saw him hold off Brian Baker of the United States and Kenyan runners Paul Mwangi and Daniel Kihara to take the coveted title by a margin of 13 seconds. Two years later, it was a much closer affair. Three elite runners – Carroll, Janko Bensa of Yugoslavia and Mohamaed Amyn of Morocco – battled down Main Street with Bensa marginally ahead but the Corkman responded with a final burst of speed with 60 metres left to win again as just two seconds covered the top three.

Carroll’s wife, Amy, a native of Kane in Pennsylvania, has a more impressive record in the race. She has notched up a total of five victories from 14 starts, along with five second places and two thirds. In 2002 she finished 22nd overall in a time of 24:25, the highest ever place by a female runner. Carroll and Rudolp both attended Providence College and other former Providence runners to feature on the Manchester honour list include John Treacy, winner in 1979 (the year he won the second of his two World Cross-Country titles). His time on that occasion of 21:26 would stand for 17 years and second that day was the winner’s brother Ray, a former member of Leevale.

Martin Fagan is the most recent Irish winner, his time of 21:41 six years ago securing the title to add to his second place in 2007. Waterford man David McCarthy - another Providence athlete - maintained the strong Irish connection in 2010 when taking third position in 21:45.

From humble beginnings in 1927 when just 12 runners took part to today’s massive event which now sees entries capped at a phenomenal 15,000, the Manchester Thanksgiving Day Road Race is now one of New England's premier sporting events.

Former Boston Marathon winner Amby Burfoot, now Editor-at-Large for Runner’s World, won the event on nine occasions in the 1960s and 70s but probably just as impressive is his record of running the race every year for the past 51 years! Now aged 68, no doubt he will continue for a few years yet and will be in the line-up again this time along with Dennis McCormack who is going for his 50th consecutive Manchester race.  

For Mark Carroll from Knocknaheeny, who is still Irish record holder for the 3000 metres with his 7:30.36 from 1999, the race will always invoke special memories: “Thanksgiving means Manchester for us,” he says of the affection it holds for both himself and his wife. “We are so thankful for the friendships we have forged there,” added Amy, “it is a race that not only gives to the running community, but to the community as a whole. Everyone has been so wonderful to us and our hearts will always be in Manchester on Thanksgiving Day.”

Martin Fagan wins Terenure 5 mile race in Dublin

In 2012, Irish international athlete Martin Fagan failed a drugs test for taking the performance enhancing drug EPO. After serving a two year ban, he gave an interview to RTE radio in January of this year to say he was thinking of returning to competitive running. In a poll on the site back then, 71% of the respondents said that they thought he should make a return to athletics.

Today (18th of May 2014), he won the Terenure 5 mile road race in Dublin. In a field of nearly 1500 runners, Martin Fagan finished in 24:23 in a sprint finish over Kenyan Freddy Keron Sittok.

1 Martin FAGAN        Mullingar Harriers     M 24:23
2 Freddy KERONSITTUK             M 24:23
3 Gary Murray             M 24:31
4 Conor DOONEY        raheny shamrocks     M 24:35
5 Joe SWEENEY        DSD     M 24:55

This is Fagan's first big win since returning to competitive running. At the start of May, he won the low key Coralstown 5k in 14:45. In that race, the prize for first place was €100 whereas the prize this time around for first place in Terenure was €400.

On Saturday, Ian O'Riordan had an interview with him in the Irish Times.

The womens race was won by Catherina McKiernan in a time of 27:40.

Full results are up on the Precision Timing website.

Results of poll...Should Martin Fagan return to athletics?

At the start of last week, I had a post up about whether Martin Fagan should make a return to  athletics following his two year ban for using EPO, a performance enhancing drug. Someone suggested that I put up a poll which I then did.

I kept the question for the poll as bland as possible..."Should Martin Fagan make a return to athletics?"

As with any poll, the question can have a large influence on the results obtained so I didn't mention drugs, bans or anything else. Just a straight simple question.

120 people answered the poll which is large enough to give a reasonably accurate answer to the question.  I didn't bother looking at the votes until the poll had closed and I was somewhat suprised to see that the 'Yes' answer was at 71%. After reading through various forums last week, I thought it might have been around 50:50.

It would seem as if most people are willing to accept Martin Fagan at face value, acknowledge that he took EPO at a time when he said he was suffering from depression and that he served the two year ban. There are obviously others who while in a minority don't accept that taking performance enhancing drugs is ever acceptable whatever the circumstances.

The current situation as I understand it is now up to Martin Fagan. He admitted his guilt, served his two year ban and can now compete as an international athlete again if he achieves the relevant qualifying times.

Martin Fagan considers return to athletics after drugs ban

Back in January 2012, Irish international athlete Martin Fagan tested positive for EPO. At the time, he said that he was suffering from depression. After testing positive, he admitted to taking EPO and did not contest the tests findings. He subsequently received a two year ban.

The story was covered in these previous posts...
a) Jan 14th...Fagan faces ban for doping offence.
b) Jan 18th...Fagan gets ban
c) Jan 22nd...Sunday newspaper reaction
d) Jan 25th...TV debate on Fagan

This is obviously going to create a lot of debate in athletics circles. Some may say that he has served his sentence and he should be given another chance. Others will no doubt say that once he doped, he crossed a line from which there was no way back.

Update...See poll on the right hand side of the site.  Should Martin Fagan make a return?

The interview on RTE radio can be heard here...

Heated TV debate on Martin Fagan...

This panel debate took place on the iTalk Sport show on Setanta Sports recently. Host Paul Kimmage goes head to head with Ian O'Riordan of the Irish Times about Martin Fagan's use of the drug EPO. O'Riordan broke the news on Fagan in an exclusive interview and some people feel he may have been too easy on him.


Unless something major really happens, this hopefully will be the last post on this story.

Sunday newspaper articles on Martin Fagan...

There were two newspaper articles today about Martin Fagan and his two year ban for taking EPO.

In the first one in the Irish Times, Ian O'Riordan talks about the original interview with Fagan and how the story broke.

In the second one in the Sunday Independent, Eamonn Sweeney doesn't mince his words as he writes a piece that is critical of Fagan and the way the Irish Times covered the story.

Martin Fagan gets official 2 year ban for taking EPO...

Following on from the breaking news story last weekend, Irish Marathon runner Martin Fagan was as expected, suspended on Tuesday for two years by Athletics Ireland after he admitted using banned performance-enhancing drugs. The 28-year-old from Mullingar tested positve for the blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO).during an out-of-competition test at his training base in the United States last month. He admitted at a hearing in Dublin that he had bought EPO on the internet and administered it himself ahead of a planned appearance at last weekend's Houston Marathon last Sunday (January 15).

Athletics Ireland and the Irish Sports Council made the following announcement...."The Irish Sport Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel has determined that Martin Fagan, an athlete affiliated to Athletics Ireland, has committed an anti-doping rule violation. The Panel found that, contrary to Article 2.1 of the Irish Anti-Doping Rules, Mr Fagan, tested positive for the presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolite or marker, recombinant erythropoietin, in a sample of his urine collected on behalf of the Irish Sports Council during out of competition testing at Tucson, Arizona on the 10th December 2011. Mr Fagan has been sanctioned, subject to his right to appeal within 14 days, by the imposition on him of a period of ineligibility for two years. The Panel has decided that because of the prompt admission of the violation by Mr Fagan the appropriate commencement date for the period of ineligibility is 10th December 2011, the date on which the sample was collected."

Ian O'Riordan of the Irish Times has a piece about it HERE

Cliona Foley of the Irish Independent has a more critical article HERE

Since this story broke last weekend, there has been a lot of reaction to it on various websites. Some people have been sympathetic to Martin Fagan and his fight with depression, some have been outrightly hostile to him over his taking of EPO while others believe perhaps naively that he will serve the two year ban and all will be well again.

Once an athlete takes a performance-enhancing drug, they have crossed the Rubicon, there is no turning back. The ban might be for two years but the damage is permanent. I would suspect that if you were to talk privately to the powers that be within Athletics Ireland or the Irish Sports Council, they would probably say that they genuinely wish Martin Fagan all the best for the future, that he gets help and gets his personal life sorted out. However when it comes to athletics, they would hope that he would retire from the sport and fade away.

Irish marathon runner Martin Fagan faces suspension for doping offence

This sad piece of news appeared in today's Irish Times. Irish Marathon runner Martin Fagan was informed by Athletics Ireland of an “adverse analytical finding”, the technical term for a positive drugs test. Fagan is due to attend an adjudication hearing in Dublin on Monday to explain why traces of the blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO) were found in the A-sample of an out-of-competition doping test taken at his US training base in December.

The Irish Times article said..."Fagan may now request to have the B-sample tested in order to back up the initial finding, although sources last night indicated there was likely to be a more immediate outcome to the matter. Athletics Ireland declined to comment on any details of the case as it is still under due procedure, but one spokesperson indicated Fagan had a “serious” case to answer."

The full article by Ian O'Riordan can be seen HERE

Postscript..Mon 16th Jan....There are now two more articles by Ian O'Riordan in which Martin Fagan admits that he took EPO, his battle with depression and how he effectively ended his athletics career.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0116/1224310310398.html and http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0116/1224310309138.html