Racing down the final stretch of the Great Ireland Run in the Phoenix Park on Sunday 18th April, Martin Fagan had reason to smile to himself knowing that he was to become the first Irish man to win this race, and this was despite the worst kind of traveling experience that any athlete could face leading up to an important race. A few days previously, as he packed his bag to head to Ireland, Icelandic volcanic ash or not, Martin was determined to get home for the Great Ireland Run to take his place on the front line of this hugely popular 10km road race and lead out the 11,000 competitors around the tough twisting hilly course through the Phoenix Park. After a miserable three day wait in the USA, he was extremely fortunate to get on the last transatlantic flight to make it to Dublin on the eve of the race, before the airport was closed to all flights.

Despite the far from ideal preparation and contending with the inevitable jet-lag, Martin was just too good for the opposition and showed why he is rightly regarded as one of the top distance runners in the World with a very convincing win to become the first Irish man to win the Great Ireland Run. Flight problems from Europe prevented the top class elite athletes scheduled to compete traveling, but even though he might have lacked any real serious competition on the day, Martin still showed his class and looked like he would have been very difficult to beat, regardless of who turned up.

Martin will be home for a month and will use Ireland as his base to compete in the Great Edinburgh Run on 2nd May, followed by the Great Manchester Run on 16th May, and with a few other road races here and there, will be an important part of his preparations for the European Championships in Barcelona. Hopefully while he’s home he’ll pop by the Club to say hello, where is sure to get a big welcome.

Updated 23 April
While focus might have been on Martin Fagan, the AAI National 10km Road Race Championships was run in conjunction with the Great Ireland Run and Mullingar had a number of athletes in action. In the women’s race, Mary Scully had a really fantastic race and finished 8th overall (2nd in her master category), continuing her phenomenal return to form after recent injury. Behind Martin Fagan in the men’s race was Paddy Kelly, Maurice Looby, Matt Glennon, Colm Walsh, JP O’Brien, Darragh Thornton, Eddie Newman and PJ Ballesty who all ran well and thoroughly enjoyed the terrific atmosphere generated during the race. Alwyn Kinane elected not to run in the National 10km and joined the thousands of others that started behind the men’s race and she too enjoyed the trip around the Park.

Before the main event, there was the Junior 2.5km race for boys and girls aged 8 to 15 years where Ciara Hewson retained her junior title won last year, followed by Lorraine Daly 3rd girl and Edel Glennon 5th girl. It was great to see Ciara being interviewed on RTE after the race, a repeat of last year’s TV appearance.