Olympic nice Eilish McColgan has set sights on Scottish marathon document and beating her mum Liz’s quickest time however admits latter phases of Sunday’s race is a “full unknown”
Eilish McColgan is aiming to interrupt her mum’s private greatest when she makes a long-awaited marathon debut however admits: “I’m completely bricking it.”
4-time Olympian Eilish has legendary mum Liz’s mark of two:26:52 in her sights regardless of the ultimate miles being a “full unknown” as a result of she has not gone previous 21 in coaching.
The Scot was a late withdrawal from the race in 2023 and her coaching has not mirrored the excessive quantity method taken by most rivals.
And Eilish says she merely desires to cross the end line with “no mishaps.” She added: “We’ve by no means bought anyplace close to 26 (miles), so what occurs after 20 miles? I don’t know, however there’s 55,000 different folks on the beginning line all considering the very same factor.
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“I clearly have my mum’s PB behind my thoughts. There’s a part of me that may love to interrupt that. It is the final of her information that I have never damaged. Then there’s the Scottish document (Steph Twell’s 2:26:40). I’ve bought nothing set in stone. They’re unfastened targets and, if I’ve a very good day, it would occur.”
However there seems little probability of her matching Liz’s 1996 race win, with Olympic champion Sifan Hassan set to resume a feisty rivalry with Tigst Assefa, the second-fastest lady of all time.
Dutch maverick Hassan, who received on her debut in London two years in the past, and Assefa barged shoulders when turning for residence in Paris final summer time earlier than the previous kicked to win.
Earlier than her earlier outing in London, Hassan cried earlier than the beginning, stopped twice to stretch a sore left hip and nearly collided with a motorcycle when veering proper to gather water from a hydration station.
“London will all the time be a fantastic reminiscence in my profession that I can always remember about, however I don’t need any drama,” she mentioned. “Round 11-13km I had some ache points, all people informed me to not run and I believed ‘oh no, this has occurred’. I began stretching, I began working a couple of minutes after which I bought shut.
“I do not forget that for the final 5km I used to be with the leaders and I used to be already celebrating as a result of I used to be so grateful to be with them. It felt like I used to be watching some drama for 2 hours.
“I’m by no means going to do higher than two years in the past. I hope I do. With the marathon I get nervous and a bit scared. It’s not like a 1500m – three minutes and also you’re completed. You must go for 2 hours. The marathon taught me that I’ve endurance – I didn’t know that I had a lot endurance. However each marathon is completely totally different.”
Different British contenders embody Rose Harvey, who ran the Olympics with a damaged leg, and Charlotte Purdue.
