Martin Fagan Back on Track

After a brilliant season in cross country which saw Martin Fagan place 16th in both the NCAA and European Cross Country Championships, he has transformed his success as a harrier onto to the track oval writes Tim O'Dowd.

The prolonged cross country season which began in Minnesota in September and culminated in Tilburg in December took it toll as Fagan was ill over the Christmas holiday break.

Despite not qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships, Fagan managed to improve on his 3,000m personal best running 7.57.69 in Boston, Massachusetts on 6th February 2006 - a time which moves him to ninth on the Irish All-Time Indoor 3,000m List. Fagan, 22, also ran 14.01.15 at the Terrier Classic also in Boston on 27th January - a mark just three seconds of his personal best.

Fagan's Providence College coach Ray Treacy commented on his indoor campaign, "Martin was ill over the Christmas vacation and because of that, he was not ready to run the NCAA qualifying time [13.51.90]. At the end of January he played catch up trying to get the time in February. Then again, running 7.57 for 3000m is not bad running. It just was not good enough to get into NCAA's this year."

On 31st March, Fagan, a senior at Providence opened the season placing 21st in 10,000-metre event at the Stanford Invitational with a time of 29.00.37. It was same race where his coach Keith Kelly ran a European qualifier of 28.44.33. An unfortunate stitch slowed Fagan down from getting both the NCAA Automatic qualifier [28.45.00] and the European standard [28.50.00] as well.

Just two weeks later, Fagan from Mullingar, took to the track again for a 5,000 metre race at the Mt. San Antonio Relays in Walnut, California. Fagan ran 13.39.62 to place 13th with a massive 17-second improvement on his personal best of 13.56.82 set in New York last May. His time met the European Championship standard of 13.42.00. The Mullingar Harrier is now ranked #29th on the Irish All-Time Outdoor 5,000m list.

Fagan talked about the accomplishment, "I felt pretty good this weekend. After a disappointing race at Stanford, it was nice to bounce back. I felt amazing during to 10k but got a cramp after 7k, so I just held on there. I new that I could of ran fast out there and that I was in good shape. I was just not able to show it. At this meet I knew I would run a good 5k. It's not what I want to do as I've been training for 10k and that's what I would love to run it at Europeans, I feel like the training I've been doing all throughout cross and indoor has finally come together and I'm ready for a good outdoor season.

Poker-faced Coach Treacy was not surprised by Fagan's 5k performance saying, "Martin always had a sub 13.40 in him. It was just a matter of believing in himself. I have no doubt that in the right situation again he will go sub-13.30 this summer.

Two weeks later was the prestigious Penn Relays and an opportunity for Fagan to step down quite a bit in distance. Fagan would get the chance to run a 1,600 metre and a mile leg on Providence College's Distance Medley and 4 x mile relays respectively. He would take advantage of the Saturday's crowd of more than 49,700 along with the delightful weather to run a magnificent 4.00.4 mile leg on PC's relay to help them place 4th overall. On Friday afternoon, Fagan ran 3.58.0 for his 1,600m anchor leg getting 4th for the Friars Distance Medley Relay [1,200m, 400m, 800m, 1,600m].

On Fagan's performances at Penn Relays, Coach Treacy responded, "I am sure that he will try to get under 4-minutes for the mile during the summer and hopefully get a 3k that goes along at sub-7.50 pace.

The next weekend, Fagan competed against some of the best distance runners in the country and the ultra-competitive Big East Conference Championships on the campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut.

Being a conference meet, athletes whose teams were involved in the overall competition were trying snatch up every point that they could muster. This type of competition usually resulted in a race similar to any championship - the sit and kick strategy.

Fagan was only entered in the 5k and after a lap or so of pedestrian pace, Fagan took over a lead he would never relinquish. Fagan ran a very comfortable and unpressed 14.08.09 to become the sixth Providence College athlete to win the Big East Outdoor Track 5,000-metre title.

Next up for Fagan will be a 5k race on Friday, 26th May at the NCAA East Region meet in Greensboro, North Carolina. Fagan will have to place in the Top 5 in the race to automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships which will held from 7th - 10th June in Sacramento, California. Presently, he is ranked third in the East Region in the 5k. Fagan also has an outside chance of qualifying for the 10,000 metres at the NCAA Championships where he is ranked 26th with at least 20 athletes being accepted into the Championships. He will have to wait until after athletes declare for the NCAA Championships to see if his 29.00.37 is good enough.

Treacy remarked on Fagan's last outdoor season that he'll run for Providence. He still has NCAA eligibility for cross country and indoor track in the 2006-2007 academic year. "Martin will run the 5000 at Regional. He has a preference for the 10k at NCAA's but we have to wait to see if his 29.00 will get him in. If not he has the 5k to fall back on.