Ó Lionáird goes the distance in Boston

Macroom runner Ciarán Ó Lionáird went the distance to win the men’s mile at the Boston Indoor Grand Prix last weekend.

In a high quality field that included Mo Farah from Britain and Galen Rupp from the US, Ó Lionáird won the event in a personal best time of 3:56.01.

Before a packed audience at the Reggie Lewis Track Facility in Roxbury Community College, the mile was the headline race, and gave the spectators an abundance of entertainment and drama.

The world 5,000 metres champion Mo Farah tripped and fell on the first lap, while US runner Galen Rupp, briefly commanded the lead, before being outpaced by Ó Lionáird.

With his formidable show of speed in the final stage of the race, and a dramatic improvement on his showing last summer in the World Championship 1,500m event, Ó Lionáird is now tipped to be a contender for the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul next month.