One of Ireland's few athletes who have already qualified for next year's Rio Olympics has decided to retire. 31-year old Martin Fagan brings Ireland's qualifiers for the marathon for next year down to zero with his decision which he says comes from falling out of love with the sport.
The Mullingar man has said that he wasn't enjoying the training, or waking up every morning to run. He told the Westmeath Independent:
I woke up and didn’t want to run and I have been like that… for my own mental health I’m happy not running.
With work it just took away from the enjoyment. I ran a race in the Pat Finnerty Road League and I just didn’t enjoy it. It’s hard to explain, but I just lost the love for it.
Working 50 hours a week, it just wasn’t happening. Obviously the support that should have been there, wasn’t and I understand why it wasn’t, as it just wouldn’t have been fair.
Fagan had qualified for next year's Olympics after running a time of 2:16:09 this April in London, which is inside the two hours and 17 minutes required to qualify for the Olympic marathon event.
Picture credit; Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE
