Under sunny skies and a crisp 5°C, Martin Fagan was among a record field of 4,025 runners that competed in the Boston Half Marathon on Sunday 11th October. The course took them on a loop in Boston and the famed Emerald Necklace Park in the nearby town of Brookline.

The men's elite field included John Korir of Kenya, one of the most successful road racers over the past decade. Most were looking to the experience of Korir to control the pace, but it was his countryman Philemon Terer who decided to take the race out from the gun and daring the other runners to keep close. Joining Terer from the start was Martin Fagan. After his recent Irish record of 60:57 in Holland in the half marathon earlier this year, Martin was now both confident and experienced on this course.

The race seemed to be down to two men by the time they hit the first mile mark. Terer and Martin were shoulder to shoulder from that point on, with only a slight charge from Korir to make things interesting. Terer's experience running fast times in the half marathon clearly gave him the early advantage. Over the past three years, Terer has completed the distance three times under 62 minutes.

After quick opening miles of 4:43 and 4:41, the pack was left in Terer and Martin's wake. The two continued to battle until they entered Franklin Park Zoo, where Martin seemed to relax and give Terer a chance to make a move. Martin admitted after the race, "I put my head down, and just kind of lost myself running through the zoo. Before I knew it, Terer had a three second gap on me."

Terer's lead, however, was short-lived, as Martin kept confident with his knowledge of the course. "I got it back around the 8th mile," he said. "I knew the course, and once I saw him fade on the uphill coming back, I knew I could pull him back."

That hill near the 8 mile mark seemed to take just enough out of Terer’s legs for Martin to pull up alongside and continue the two-man battle they created from the start. With another 4:43 in the 10th mile, Martin was clearly daring Terer to keep up with his newfound momentum. By this point, Korir was a distant third place and was slowly being caught by American Jeff Eggleston.

Coming into the final two miles, neither Terer nor Martin were giving an inch to each other, making the race outcome decided in the final strides. With 100m to go, Martin found the edge he needed and pulled five metres ahead to earn the victory and become only the second Irish born runner to take the title. Martin's winning time of 62:21 was just one second off the course record of 62:20 set in 2007 by Tom Nyariki of Kenya.

Terer commented after the race, "I felt a stitch in my side the last mile, and he (Fagan) looked very strong. It was a very good race for me, and I felt good on the hills. I wanted to win, but I just couldn't keep up at the end."

Martin was full of praise for the event and especially the course design. "After I lost that lead, we started to come back towards the rest of the participants heading into the zoo," he said. "Everyone was cheering for me to catch up, and that's all the motivation I needed to get back into the race."

Interestingly, the women's race was won by Belainesh Gebre one of Ethiopia's top junior runners in recent years who like Martin is based in Flagstaff, Arizona and said after the race that training in Flagstaff is much like training at altitude in Ethiopia. Maybe that’s Martin’s secret?

We can look forward to seeing Martin in action on home soil at the Inter-County Cross Country in Kilbeggan Racecourse in late November, which will be a trial for the Ireland team to compete in the European Cross Country in December.

(Report courtesy of RunnersWeb.com)