Martin Fagan is back baby!!!! Runs 63:58 to win the Charleville International Half Marathon

Drug Cheat Martin Fagan

Fagan's Races since Comeback

April -

Ringtown GAA 10k - 1st 32:25

May -

Coralstown 5k - 1st 14:45

Terenure 5 Mile - 1st 24:23

Na Fianna AC "Bob Heffernan Memorial 5k" - 1st 14:26

June -

Dunshaughlin AC 10k - 1st 30:03

St. Coca's AC 5k - 2nd 14:18 (Mark Christie 14:06)

July -

Mullingar 10 Mile Road Race - 1st 48:43

August -

Glenmore AC 5k - 1st 14:26

Streets of Galway 8k - 1st 23:38

Charleville International Half Marathon - 1st 63:56

looks like the marathon training is going well, can't say I am happy or unhappy about him coming back, at the end of the day, he cheated, as for his depression its not really an excuse.

I feel for those who went home as losers bak when he was cheating.

I forgive him enough to allow him to compete but I'm not a fan. That's a line I can't cross.

he played a bit of GAA as well since he got banned i heard, a game of GAA is a great session for a runner, try it out. I also have mixed feelings about him being back in the sport but what can you do, just get on with it.

The JOhnson's should do a "talent does not go away" special on this cat.. crazy progression back to shape in such short time. He is a total talent.

When Martin was about 17 he went over to England to a BMC meet ate a Mars bar nearly on the start line and ran about 8.10 for 3000m. This was the run that got him noticed, he was a MASSIVE talent, this is no Cathal Lombard story!

Fagan did not take drugs to cheat, just my two sense, perhaps more one of desperation. He ran under 28mins for 10000m clean. I don't use depression as an excuse for his drug taking but come on why would Martin Fagan an already Olympian take the most detectable drug going in endurance sport to cheat, madness!

Between a combination of bad injuries, desperation, no direction and just trying to get out of the sport he went down the wrong path. But he will now always unfortunately be remembered as a cheat. Did anyone in Ireland offer him much help I wonder, probably not.

Hook, line and sinker. EPO is quickly out of the system. He was in the US and didn't expect to be tested and got popped. If he were Moroccan and gave the same excuse, he would be crucified instead of being looked at as a desperate chap.

He ordered the EPO over the internet using his own credit card, his own address, his own name and didn't know the dosage. He's not showing the experience of a long time doper.

Fagan due to run Rotterdam in April. Ran 48: low for 10 miles last weekend in Trim, County Meath.

What happened to Fagan running Rotterdam?

Martin was a victim of circumstances, and if you go back to the interview after he was caught, he suggested that he used EPO more out of curiosity than out of a desire to get an advantage on the competition, and anyone who knows him can accept that, because he is a fundamentally honest and honorable individual.

As for the benefits of EPO, back to the time he was caught, Fagan got precious little benefit from using the stuff, because the time frame was not right. The tragedy in his case, was that he did not need to use EPO to make significant improvement in the sport, because his times were due for serious revision anyway because of a much more sophisticated training method, and contact with other athletes which helped him more than EPO.

Now - let the man run and prove how good he is, clean, as it would have been anyway. He has already paid a kind of life sentence with the tarnishing and it need not be that way.

Ghost in China - apply today, good experience

You pretty much just went through and checked all of the typical doping excuse boxes.

ghost, J.R., Canova: doping apologist/denier tag team trolls .

Fagan will be under the spotlight and tested more than most people have had hot dinners from now on. He will not escape the clutches of the IAAF checkers.

He has paid his dues and it will be interesting to see how good he becomes again. Remember Lombard - he was driven away from athletics because of the tarnishing and negative vibes. He now practices as a solicitor, and knows full well about the vagaries of the law.

The sad part about Lombard is that his times were also due for serious revision (without EPO) before he was caught.

The point about all of these things is that some of the so called EPO cheats have become vilified in the press even though there is often little evidence on how much EPO they used, and conjecture is used to estimate the benefits accrued. In many other judicial settings, the kind of evidence presented against dopers would be thrown out because of a lack of conclusive evidence that wrong doing was committed on a systematic and deliberate way.

Ghost in China, apply today.

Apparently fagan was rejected by the Rotterdam Marathon and is running Zurich marathon instead on April 19th.

From what i've gathered within Ireland people have very mixed feelings in regards to Fagan. Some happy to see him back, others very upset to see him winning races and taking prize money.

ghost wrote:

He has paid his dues and it will be interesting to see how good he becomes again.

The only thing that would have been interesting: putting him under oath. Off to jail for liars like Fagan.

Martin, GTFO of competitive sports. Open a bar, do whatever. Second chance in life? Anytime. Competing? Never again.

I support lifetime bans but since all the other dopers are welcomed back I reluctantly accept Fagan competing again.

brogan1 wrote:

I support lifetime bans but since all the other dopers are welcomed back I reluctantly accept Fagan competing again.

I second this. Given that the standard ban is 2 years, he's served his time and that should be that. Hopefully, he's learned his lesson and won't cheat again.

While I also favor life time banss over the current system, I think a better solution is to require that anyone busted for doping be required to donate any future prize money to WADA or whatever anti-doping agency after they've paid back any prize money they won in the past, which would then be redistributed to those who didn't win what they ought to have.

brogan1 wrote:I support lifetime bans but since all the other dopers are welcomed back.

I welcome none of them back.