24 year old Fagan, from Mullingar Harriers, was running his first Marathon and is an outstanding prospect for the future.
Pat Hickey, President of the OCI commented “Martin Fagan’s grant kicks off our Olympic Year Bursary programme in style. The Bursary programme is fully funded from our corporate sponsorship income”.
“We plan to distribute several more bursaries to deserving athletes in the coming months and will primarily focus on athletes who we feel are financially disadvantaged”.
“For example, in Martin Fagan’s case he relied on funding from the Mullingar Lions Club to pay for his air ticket to the Dubai Marathon, where he battled through the pain barrier to achieve Olympic qualification”.
Martin Fagan said that the grant was very welcome as it would enable him to give up his part-time job in Arizona in order to focus fully on doing well in Beijing. “I expect the Beijing marathon to be highly competitive but my strategy is to run a lot smarter during the race now that I have achieved the qualification time. I have a lot more to offer and Beijing will be a great experience for me. My ultimate goal is to do well for Ireland in Beijing and to use the experience for my main goal, London 2012”.
This week Martin will come under the medical care of the Olympic Council’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Sean Gaine, and Medical Officer, Dr Rod McLoughlin, and is expected to use the facilities of the Mater Private and Cappagh Hospitals in order to sort out lower back and hip problems.
To date 13 track & field athletes have now qualified for this summer’s Games in Beijing.
