Jack O’Leary intent on making his own name for himself

His uncle is Michael O’Leary, the Ryanair CEO while his father is Eddie O’Leary, racing manager for Gigginstown House Stud.

Jack O'Leary ran for Iona University, just outside New York City,

It’s the point in an athlete’s career where many Olympic dreams go up in smoke – the post-collegiate void, devoid of structure, support and the backing of any clear system.

Jack O’Leary knows it, acknowledges it, but is actively railing against it. The 24-year-old distance runner has been back home in Westmeath since November, his five years in the NCAA coming to an end last autumn. O’Leary loved his time at Iona University, just outside New York City, but success in distance running is a slow burner, the peak years arriving much later than in other events. The journey there requires time, patience and vast commitment.

O’Leary is already one of Ireland’s best, having run 28:29.39 for 10,000m last summer, but he wants to be better – much better. “I’d love to break the Irish records in the 5000m and 10,000m,” he says, referring to Alistair Cragg’s 13:03.53 and 27:39.55.

Not this year, of course, but some year soon. O’Leary feels he’s in an environment now where he can progress towards that.

“I always bring up the O’Donovan brothers because rowing and running are quite similar. In rowing you need water and a boat, and in running you just need some good trails and a pair of shoes. With the calibre of athletes in Ireland now, there’s something really special happening, and I’d love to (succeed) from a home base.” 

Whether it’s nature or nurture, success has long run in his family. His uncle is Michael O’Leary, the Ryanair CEO. His father is Eddie O’Leary, racing manager for Gigginstown House Stud. Since returning home, Jack counts himself “very lucky” to have been given part-time work by his parents, doing office work at the family’s Lynn Lodge Stud farm in Killucan.

“In my younger days I was mucking out stables, riding out horses, but now with training your body is absolutely dead half the time,” he says. “The office job is grand; you’re sitting at the desk three or four hours a day and my parents are very flexible with my training. Hopefully I’ll soon be running fast enough that I can give everything to running.” 

Last week, O’Leary was announced as one of 22 athletes who will receive a grant from the Jerry Kiernan Foundation, which is distributing over €30,000 this year, honouring the late coach’s legacy by offering a helping hand to Irish athletes.

“There’s this grey patch where you’re either a world-class runner or you’re not, and to get to that world-class stage you have to have a lot of luck,” says O’Leary. “The foundation is giving people a chance to give this a good swing, to put everything into this sport.” That mentality is what first drove him stateside in 2016. “The NCAA taught me how to race, to be tough. Every single race, there are world-class athletes beside you.” 

The one thing holding him back in his time there was injuries. One of the worst was a stress fracture in his sacrum last September, which O’Leary blames on his unwillingness to take a proper rest after the track season. He got back running in December, and has slowly, sensibly, built up his volume since, running 80 miles a week and supplementing with cross-training. Since returning to Ireland, he’s re-joined his old coach at Mullingar Harriers, Joe Ryan, and later this week O’Leary will set off for a month-long training camp in Font Romeu, a hotspot for distance-runners in the French Pyrenees. He’ll open his season with a 5000m in Belfast in May and he’s hoping to secure selection for the European 10,000m Cup in France, where his goal is to run the qualifying standard of 28:15 for August’s European Championships in Munich.

“I haven’t had a chance yet to show my (potential), but I’m hoping I can get a clean run at it and strut my stuff,” he says.

And now that he’s adjusted to post-collegiate life, the key is to stay healthy. In recent months O’Leary put in a consistent block of training, his sole issue being a minor niggle in his calf. Not that it was any major cause for concern, merely a symptom of how assiduously he’s working.

“As a runner, if you’re 100 per cent in your body,” he laughs, “you’re obviously not training hard enough.”