Track legend Egan dies

ATHLETICS: The death has taken place in Galway of one of Ireland's finest distance runners, Martin Egan. He was 86 and lived all his life in Shanaglish.

In 1946 Egan broke one of the most enduring records in Irish athletics when he won the four miles at the Irish NACA Championships in Dundalk, his time of 19 minutes 38.6 seconds breaking the mark of 19:44.6 set in Ballsbridge, Dublin, 59 years earlier by Tommy Conneff.

Egan's achievement in Dundalk was heralded far and wide, more especially as he led for long stretches of the race and finished with a remarkable display of speed and strength.

The great John Joe Barry of Ballincurry, Co Tipperary, was to run in the race but switched to the half-mile, which he won.

At one point in the race Don Appleby from Dublin dropped back, intending to assist Egan when lapped, but the Galwayman forged ahead and finished alone, having passed the three-mile mark in a time quicker than Barry's Irish record.

Egan, who had won four Irish titles in 1945, was beaten into second place in the 1947 championship by his Coolquill Kickhams clubmate Mick Blake. But Egan was carrying a serious injury and collapsed in agony afterwards on the same Dundalk track.

A month later Egan broke the Irish 10-mile record in Belfield with a time of 55:15 and came back in 1948 to regain his four-mile crown at Ballinasloe, turning the tables on Blake.

Egan was to win a host of titles at various distances, and during those years at the top he earned the respect and admiration of friends and foes alike.

In 1948 he might well have been considered for selection on the Irish team in the 5,000 metres at the London Olympics, but of course at that time NACA athletes were barred from all international competition.