Hawkins coasts to new Scottish record to put nightmare collapse behind him
● Scottish athlete smashes personal best time at event
A top athlete has buried his demons by smashing the Scottish record in the 39th London Marathon.
Callum Hawkins was yesterday competing in his first event over the 26.2-mile distance since hitting the headlines for the wrong reason in April last year, having collapsed with heat exhaustion during the 2018 Commonwealth Games race on Australia’s Gold Coast.
The 26-year-old, from Elderslie in Renfrewshire, finished tenth in two hours, eight minutes and 14 seconds to cap his redemption. The result smashed his personal best by two minutes and beat Alistair Hutton’s 1985 previous Scottish record of 2:09:16.
Last year, in temperatures approaching 30C, the Scot was leading the Commonwealth Games marathon when he began to look unsteady on his feet. Falling once, he got back up and continued before a second fall moments later while crossing a bridge just over a mile from the finish line. The collapse ended his race, with Hawkins eventually taken to hospital for treatment.
“It was almost like going into a car that had been sitting in the heat all day,” recalled Hawkins. “The last thing I remember was putting every ounce of effort to get back on my feet and I just couldn’t do it. It was as if I was really drunk.”
Yesterday’s performance guarantees Hawkins a place in the team for the World Championships in Doha later this year and thrusts him into contention for one of the three GB Olympic spots, finishing inside the qualifying time.
He said: “It was really tough, it was windy about three quarters of the way around.i had a funny moment when I hit 40km, but I managed to get myself back together. It’s a good stepping stone for whatever I choose towards the end of the year. Hopefully it is the worlds and hopefully I will be pushing for a medal and be in even better condition.”
Hawkins’ fellow Scot, Sir Andy Murray, fired the gun to start the event. Murray’s former coach, French tennis star Amelie Mauresmo, who competed, said: “Every marathon I have run so far, at the finish line, I’ve said I will never do another marathon and I certainly feel like that now.
“I’m pleased to have done London and the crowds were incredible, but it was a really tough race for me.i’m happy with my time, but disappointed not to break my fastest time.”
Eliud Kipchoge won the men’s race with a new course record and the event’s second fastest time ever, while Sir Mo Farah finished fifth. Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei won the women’s race with compatriot Vivian Cheruiyot coming in second – a role reversal from last year when she beat Kosgei to the crown.
Money raised from the event has topped £1 billion since it started in 1981, according to race sponsors Virgin Money.
More than 40,000 runners – some dressed as giraffes, bells, cars and even Big Ben – took to the streets of the capital.
In the women’s race, Charlotte Purdue thrust herself into World Championship contention by finishing tenth in a new personal best.
The 27-year-old Scot took almost four minutes off her best to finish as the leading Briton, running 2:25:38 in the third-fastest time ever in a British women’s marathon. Her time was also within the qualifyingmarkforthetokyoolympics. “I am over the moon,” she said. “To smash my personal best is all I could to ask for.”
Callum Hawkins’ collapse during the marathon in the 2018 Commonwealth Games was a devastating moment. Having arrived at the Games full of promise, he crashed out of his event, painfully.
And so we were absolutely delighted to see Callum set a new Scottish record during yesterday’s London marathon. His time of two hours, eight minutes and 14 seconds shaves a minute and two seconds off the record established by Alistair Hutton in 1985.
Callum’s experience in last year’s Commonwealth Games must have
come as a great knock to the confidence required by top flight athletes. That he has had to overcome that experience makes his achievement yesterday doubly impressive.
He is now a strong contender to win one of three marathon spots in Team GB for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Great sportsmen and women are marked out not only by the success they achieve but by how they deal with disappointment and defeat. In bouncing back from disaster then setting a new marathon record, Callum Hawkins displays exactly the qualities required by the very best.