Fagan's costly journey pays off

ATHLETICS GREAT IRELAND RUN:IT COST Martin Fagan more than €2,000 just to get to the starting line for yesterday's Spar Great Ireland Run in the Phoenix Park, but he felt it was money well spent after he became the first Irish athlete to win the men's event from a record field of 11,000.

“In situations like that you do not count the cost,” said the 26-year-old from Mullingar. “This race was on my radar for weeks and I was determined to be there, even it was a little expensive for the last leg of my journey.”

His outlay was all due to the travel chaos which faced him after he arrived in New York from Arizona on Thursday. He managed to get the last seat on a flight out of Boston for Dublin on Friday night.

“The figure I was quoted was $3,000, which is over €2,000, but I did not consider the cost and was delighted to get out of the US and be on the starting line here and make up for my third place last year,” said Fagan after he had crossed the line of the 10km event in 29 minutes 15 seconds.

“I was lucky to get here, because I would have been shattered if I missed out. I had trained specifically for this race and it was part of my programme for the summer.”

Fagan got the better of the tenacious Galwayman, Gary Thornton, over the second half of the race to win by 18 seconds. Meath’s Andrew Ledwith was third in 29.45.

However, because of the flight disruptions, the race was not as competitive as anticipated.

Up to one dozen European runners, including top names from Portugal and Switzerland, were absent.

“It would have been far better if these guys were in the field, but I just tried to run my own race and I was very happy with my performance. Gary gave me a good race, but I felt strong on those hills over the last 5k and I can go away from this feeling I’m in very good shape for a couple of races I’ve lined up in the UK in the coming weeks.”

Fagan likes to run from the front and he set out his stall from the gun, but Thornton ran shoulder-to-shoulder with him through the halfway stage.

“It was good to have the company but I felt good out there and conditions were ideal,” said Fagan. The Irish 10km championship was run in conjunction, which means Fagan, Thornton and Ledwith took the medals.

The women’s race was denied Europeans too, but there were representatives from Britain and they filled the first two places, with Scotland’s Freya Murray timing her effort to perfection to haul in England’s Joe Pavey to win going away in 32:28.

Australia’s former world cross-country champion, Benita Willis, was a well beaten third in 34:24.

Linda Byrne of Dundrum was fourth in 34:50 and had the consolation of winning the AAI gold medal, having tried to go with the leaders in the early stage.