The 'Bullet with the Mullet'

Ireland’s Ciarán O’Lionaird finally broke through in 2011

After missing parts of three collegiate seasons for various reasons, Ireland’s Ciarán O’Lionaird has at last started to realize the potential he first showed as a juvenile in his native County Cork in Ireland. At 16, he ran 3:50.41 seconds for 1500m and reached the final of the 2005 IAAF World Youths Championships in Morocco. Now comfortably settled in Beaverton with Alberto Salazar’s Nike Oregon Project, O’Lionaird (Leonard in English and pronounced to rhyme with Skynyrd)has had time to reflect on an incredible year in 2011.

He began running at 7 but did not join Leevale, a club in the nearby city of Cork, until 12 years of age. The club has a tradition of athletes going on scholarship to American colleges since the 1970s when Leevale athlete Donal Walsh led Villanova to the NCAA cross country title ahead of the Prefontaine-led and Bowerman-coached crack Oregon squad. Later another Leevale man, Mark Carroll, would win an NCAA indoor 5,000m in the colors of Providence College.