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McColgan aims to emulate her mum on marathon debut
Eilish McColgan is raring to take on the TCS London Marathon
for the first time in 2023
Commonwealth Games gold and silver medallist Eilish McColgan admits it
feels 'surreal' to be making her TCS London Marathon debut on Sunday 23
April, nearly 30 years after her mum Liz famously won the event in 1996.
The 32-year-old will compete at the 26.2-mile distance for the first time
after a sensational 12 months that saw her announce herself on the world
stage with a string of impressive performances, including being crowned
10,000m Commonwealth champion in Birmingham.
"Last year was better than I could have written for myself," said McColgan.
"With the Commonwealth Games being in the UK, a British crowd, my mum and
dad being there, (my partner) Michael being there, and of course having
that family history with my mum winning gold 32 and 36 years ago – I
couldn't have asked for any more."
A decorated debutant
But the Team GB and Scotland athlete did achieve more in 2022. Before
Birmingham, she broke two British and one European record that had all been
set by Paula Radcliffe two decades earlier.
First, McColgan became the fastest Briton in a 5K road race by clocking 14
minutes 48 seconds, and just a week later she beat the British half
marathon record by 21 seconds, in a time of 1:06:26. Her hat-trick of
rewriting records was completed when she ran the 10K in 30:19 – a European
best.
Now the Hawkhill Harrier has her sights set firmly on marathon success and
is excited to follow in her mum's footsteps once again, this time in
London.
She said: "The London Marathon is one of these bucket list races. Even
people who don't run, they've never run in their lives, and they have no
interest in running, but they know what the London Marathon is. It's such
an iconic race that everybody in our country knows about it and everyone
wants to do it."
McColgan was a pacesetter at the 2020 and 2021 London Marathons, and she's
confident the experience will stand her in good stead this April.
"It was nice to see the whole process of going to sleep the night before to
being on the Start Line. I think that'll help settle my nerves a little
bit, knowing that I've seen everything."
If her debut goes well, McColgan hopes this will be the start of a
successful new journey. She said: "I'm of the mindset that London is the
first step towards doing more road races and marathons. I won't entirely
turn away from the track, I still want to be competitive over 10K but the
priority is definitely the marathon. Of course, that might change if I'm no
use at it!"
Like mother, like daughter
After the last 12 months, it's hard to imagine McColgan being anything
other than successful, especially with her legendary mum guiding her. So,
has her mum offered her any advice?
"My mum just said not to get sucked into other people's races, and I think
I'm quite good at that. When I was 12 years old, she said 'One day, you'll
be a marathoner'. To be honest, that petrified me as a kid but, as I got
older, I think deep down I knew this was my path."
British athletes joining McColgan on the Start Line of the 2023 TCS London
Marathon include the second and fourth-fastest Britons of all time over the
marathon distance, Jess Piasecki and Charlotte Purdue, as well as strong
contenders Stephanie Davis and Samantha Harrison.
Check out the full list of British stars taking on the elite women's race
below.
British elite women at the 2023 TCS London Marathon
- Jess Piasecki (PB 2:22:27)
- Charlotte Purdue (2:23:26)
- Stephanie Davis (2:27:16)
- Rosie Edwards (2:31:56)
- Samantha Harrison (2:32:22)
- Eilish McColgan (debut)
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