Taken from the Athletics Ireland website - 11th February 2009

Athletics Ireland is delighted to announce its inaugural Athlete of the Month Award scheme which will recognise the outstanding performances of Irish athletes throughout the year.

Athletics Ireland will name a monthly winner who will be selected by a panel of well-respected athletics experts with a wide knowledge and understanding of all disciplines of the sport. The selected athlete will be presented with a special commemorative trophy.

The January Athlete of the Month is Martin Fagan of Mullingar Harriers. Fagan is a worthy recipient following his impressive winning performance in the Austin Half-Marathon in Texas, USA where he set a new course record of 61: 05 minutes, just outside John Treacy’s long standing Irish record of 61:00 minutes.

Fagan will be looking to build on this performance over the coming months and put behind him some of the traumas he has experienced of late, including a stress fracture which forced him out of completing the Olympic Marathon in Beijing and a fall at the European Cross Country Championships while in contention for a medal placing.

Fagan is an exciting talent and he will no doubt later this year be targeting John Treacy’s Irish Marathon record of 2:09:15.

"We are delighted to be launching this initiative which will each month recognise a special performance by an Irish athlete. I would also like to congratulate Martin Fagan a very talented athlete who I know will continue to produce world class performances". Athletics Ireland CEO, Mary Coghlan said.