Mccolgan emulates her mother with surprise win
Eilish Mccolgan admitted running blind helped her eye up a surprise victory at the Great South Run yesterday in her debut over ten miles.
The Dundonian, 27, followed in the footsteps of her mother Liz by winning on the streets of Portsmouth, clocking 54 minutes and 43 seconds after surging clear of fellow Scot Steph Twell in the closing stages.
And although the European Championship medallist confessed she was “petrified” on the start line, she held her nerve to overhaul Twell and open up a 33-second margin over the final two miles with a performance that hinted at the potential for an exploratory move towards the halfmarathon in 2019.
“I was so scared coming into this,” said Mccolgan. “It was so far outside my comfort zone from being in the track. But having no idea what to expect prob- ably helped me. My Mum said, ‘don’t look at your watch. It doesn’t matter about the time. Just be competitive and just race it’.
“I know that my mum and my dad will have been screaming at the TV, especially with my mum being a previous winner here. Even just to experience the race and run on the same roads she did, 20-odd years ago, was special. But to win it was great.”
Chris Thompson, the recent winner of the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow, claimed his third successive victory in the men’s race in 46:56, ending up 33 seconds clear of British rival Andy Vernon in a boost to his hopes of success at the New York Marathon in two weeks time.
“That was hard fought,” Thompson confirmed. “And the satisfying thing is that it’s the fastest of the three. Andy was tough and I wasn’t in the race until five or six miles and I didn’t feel comfortable.”