Glorious summer for old-school 'Mad Len'

ATHLETICS: Ciarán O’Lionaird has improved his best from 3:48.36, moved to fourth on the Irish all-time list, and qualified for the World Championships and the 2012 London Olympics, writes IAN O'RIORDAN 

IT WAS close to midnight last Saturday when they got back to Leuven, and Ciarán O’Lionaird reckoned there was time for a beer. “Just the one,” he said to the small enclave of runners, knowing full well that would turn into the two or three.

They ordered a round of Belgium’s finest – Leffe Blond – and as O’Lionaird took the first sip he felt pretty satisfied: earlier, in Ghent, he clocked 3:41.34, in horrible conditions. Just shy of his 1,500-metre best, run a few weeks previous. Since basing himself in Leuven for the summer – sharing the “spare room” in the house of US athletics agent Chris Layne – he’d also run personal bests for the mile (3:57.99), for 3,000m (7:50.71), and for 5,000m (13:33.64).