Marathon News - Fagan Breaks Course Record at 3M Half-Marathon

Jan-24-2009

Fagan Breaks Course Record at 3M Half-Marathon
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

Irish Olympian Martin Fagan broke Andres Espinosa's course record to win today's 3M Half-Marathon in Austin, Tex.

Fagan, 25, set a personal best time of 1:01:05 on this famously downhill course (5.4m/km elevation loss), the second-fastest time ever recorded by an Irishman for the standard 21.097 km distance. The great John Treacy ran 1:01:00 on the slightly downhill Great North Run course in Newcastle, England, in 1988. Fagan's time beat Espinosa's ten year-old course record by 11 seconds.

Belgium's Monder Rizki finished second in 1:01:47 in his debut at the distance, and Fagan's Flagstaff, Ariz., training partner, Andrew Lemoncello of Scotland, took third in 1:01:52, also a personal best. Both Fagan and Lemoncello are coached by Greg McMillan.

Zemedkun Gebre Belainesh of Ethiopian won her second half-marathon in as many weeks, clocking 1:11:17, a personal best.