Fagan & Kiplagat are European Athletes of the Month of October

Domer

Kiplagat & Fagan are European Athletes of the Month of October

Multiple World Champion Lornah Kiplagat and Ireland’s Martin Fagan have been voted the
European Athletes of the Month for October on the back of their scintillating form
on the road circuit.

Kiplagat has really established herself as one of the all time greats of women’s road
running, winning her third consecutive IAAF World Half Marathon title on the streets
of Rio de Jeneiro, Brazil with ease.

The Dutch super star, clocked a stunning time of 68:37 to win over the half marathon
distance adding to her victories in Udine, Italy last year and Debrecen, Hungary in
2006.

The 34-year-old who holds numerous world records, including the half marathon, still
harbours ambitions on the track and will probably aim for the 10,000m at the IAAF
World Athletics Championships in Berlin in 2009.

Fagan on the other hand was the leading European in a number of top races in a world
that seems to be dominated by athletes from Africa.

After becoming the first Irish marathoner to qualify for the Olympic Games since 1992,
the 25-year-old made a big impact at the Great North Run in Newcastle, England on
October 5th leading the Europeans home in 6th position in a high class 62:20.

Three weeks later he ran another huge PB to take second place in the Great South Run
in Portsmouth, England running 10 miles (16.1km) in 46:58.

His next goal will be to improve on his 9th place finish at last years SPAR European
Cross Country Championships at the next edition in Brussels.

The runners up in the womens poll were Britain’s Paula Radcliffe and Russia’s Nailya
Yulamanova while Moldova’s Iaroslav Musinschi and Ukrainian Andriy Naumov took the
minor placings on the men’s side.

The European Athlete of the Month initiative was launched in January 2007 and is
designed to recognise outstanding performers at all levels of the sport in Europe.

European Athletics will name a male and female winner each month and feature the
athlete on the European Athletics website. Selections are based on votes by the
public, the media and a panel of European Athletics experts with each counting for
33.3% of the final vote.


For more information click here:

http://www.european-athletics.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6864&Itemid=2

ecoli

superb to see Fagan getting some recognition a tremendous talent definitely one of the greatest irish runners of this generation will be great to see how he fairs in the Euro XC

HaileGeb

Brilliant! A well deserved award. Also deserved the award for Irish cross country/road athlete of the year last saturday but maybe the vote was taken prior to his recent performances!

Top 3 in the Euorpeans is on the cards and a medal in the European Marathon in 2010 is achievable if he stays healthy and injury free.