London 2012 will be a marathon effort for Collette

Sep 3 2008 by Colin Paterson, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

COLLETTE FAGAN enjoyed British success at the Beijing Olympic Games as much as the next person.

The only difference is she wishes she had made the headlines instead of being stuck at home reading them.

These past few years have been an emotional rollercoaster for the 26-year-old.

One minute she was competing in the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and getting ready to run the New York marathon.

The next she was lying in a hospital bed fearing her career was over after suffering a broken foot.

But green shoots of recovery have shot up from the depths of despair. The Monklands runner is back in business and has big ambitions.

She may not have been among the medals in China but Collette hopes the London 2012 Olympics and Glasgow Commonwealth Games two years later will see her take centre stage.

Now concentrating on marathon running, Collette is desperate to grab the second chance she feels she has been given to become a top-class athlete.

“London 2012 and Glasgow 2014 is giving me something to aim for,” she told the Advertiser. “That is why I am back.

“I couldn’t have imagined having a Commonwealth Games in your home area and by then, I will be at the peak age for marathon running.

“But it is very easy to say that. I haven’t ran my first marathon yet – the further away it is from racing, the easier it seems to be and while I am motivated to be there, so are lots of other people.

“The competition is going to be very high because the Games will inspire everyone.”

Collette got into athletics at primary school and immediately caught the eye, becoming Scottish champion in her first year.

At the age of 17, she wanted to race in the UK trials in England but the Scotland squad didn’t take her.

Instead of shrugging her shoulders, however, and accepting it wasn’t her time, Collette and her dad paid their own way and travelled south to compete.

She ended up winning her 3000m event.

“To be fair, I wasn’t expected to win it,” she said. “They (Scottish Athletics) were looking at older athletes and the English girls might have not seen me as a threat.

“But even at that age you have to take a bit of a gamble. Fair enough, it was going to cost my mum and dad money to go to London, but I thought it was worth it.”

More success followed. In 2001, she was third in the European junior championships in the 5000 metres and two years later, was national 10k champion.

“I enjoyed the pressure and expectation, strangely enough,” she said. “I like being a favourite, it motivates me.”

At first glance, it seems Collette’s injury problems can be traced back to the day she collapsed over the finishing line in Melbourne but the Coatbridge athlete insists that isn’t the case.

“I was never going there to win a medal,” she said. “I knew I wouldn’t finish in the top three, it was all about getting experience and feeling what it was like being at a major Games, and learning from that.

“After that, I was moving up to marathon running and I was excited as I had an invite from New York to make my debut there.

“I was really motivated about it, I was in great shape over that summer and trained well but then I got a stress fracture in my right foot.

“I got back into training and was just getting ready to compete when I broke my left foot in Portugal where I was part of a small group at a training camp.

“I just felt something really painful, like a snap. I didn’t think I’d broken it because I thought a bone couldn’t just break like that. But it could, and standing on it afterwards didn’t help.

“I came home and went to see my physio. I got it x-rayed and the doctors said I had broken my foot.

“I had been walking on it for over a week and been trying to exercise. The pain was severe, but as a runner, you are used to that.

“There is a period from when you break a bone and when it starts to heal and at that stage you should rest. But I didn’t, which is why it was so serious.

“That was the most difficult time, not just in my career, but in my life. I could deal with not being an athlete, but knowing that I had risked my foot, risked that I might not have been able to go for a jog – I couldn’t have dealt with that to be honest.”

She continued: “Frustration and sadness went through my mind. The doctors at Monklands Hospital were really great, they were so understanding and tried to be helpful.

“For me, to have sport taken away from my life, I don’t know how I would have coped.”

Time out from athletics followed. Collette attended Strathclyde University to study law part-time as she tried to figure out what she would do with her future.

“I enjoyed it, it was a different life. More like the life of your average 20-something,” she said.

“I didn’t have to watch what I ate or drank when I was going out. In some ways, I enjoyed that freedom and that lack of discipline and order.

“But after a few months I wanted to compete.”

Gentle walking and jogging was followed by running – every day. Collette entered the East Kilbride half-marathon and knew it was a pivotal day in her comeback.

“If the foot could stand that without training for it, then I knew it was okay,” she said. “I didn’t know what to expect. I was like everybody else, seeing if I could finish the distance and enjoy the race.

“There were actually tears in my eyes when I crossed the finishing line. I had been through so much, I cried with relief but also with sadness at all that happened.

“At the end of that week, I phoned my coach Liz McColgan and she was really keen to get going.”

Collette is grateful for the support of her coach and family and insists her injury woes have changed her as both an athlete and a person.

“Training has changed so much, it has had to,” she said.

“It has an element of caution built in. I can’t risk breaking down and having the whole thing taken away from me.

“I only run once a day which is a big difference from training twice a day, six days a week, but the sessions are longer.”

As we chat, the events in Beijing are on the telly in the corner of the family home.

“Two years ago I thought I would be there,” says Collette. “I didn’t know for sure if I would make it because it is quite hard to get into an Olympic team.

“Even if you are at the level of Paula Radcliffe, you have to qualify and be in shape.”

And now there is light at the end of the tunnel, Collette reckons her injury nightmare could have been a defining experience.

“Everything now is new and exciting,” she says.

“What happened might have been a blessing in disguise. I have another six or seven years of top-level competition in me but I find I really appreciate it a lot more.

“It was only when I had that time out that I realised what a good lifestyle I had.

“I know it is a cliche, but I feel a stronger person. I probably have grown up more in the last two or three years than I did in the previous 10.”