The Scots fight through blood and blisters to finish first British in the London Marathon and seventh overall.
Eilish McColgan wasn’t about to sugarcoat her performance at the London Marathon on Sunday (April 26). In his second attempt at the distance, he was the first British athlete to finish seventh in 2:24:51, 26 seconds off the Scottish record of 2:24:25 set 12 months ago.
The 35-year-old cut a frustrated figure, but the fact that she took it out on the streets was impressive in itself as she revealed the nagging issue that has hindered her progress.
“Not long after the halfway point I had a really, really bad blister and it sounds weird but the only way I can really describe it is I felt like my leg exploded,” said the Commonwealth champion, who ran most of the second half on his own. “It freaked me out a bit and I’ve been running funny ever since. I couldn’t really put pressure on my leg, so I started to hurt other areas as well.”
McColgan had no explanation as to how or why this happened, and was quick to point out that he has regularly competed in ASICS shoes this year.
“I got to mile 24 and my knee started to go up and almost gave out on me,” he added. I was saying: “I can’t get to mile 24 and not finish.” Not sure why my foot decided to be lethargic today. I was covered in blood. I had to go and see the doctor after the run because I couldn’t put any pressure on my leg. I took a sock off and the skin just fell off.
“It’s just disappointing to run the same time as I did on my debut last year. I don’t think it’s a fair reflection of my fitness. I just kept running thinking.
McColgan will now “need some time to heal” before turning his attention to his next goal, which is to represent Scotland again at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July. And there will be more marathons in her future.
He was stunned Sebastian Save and Yomif Kejelca’s performances in the men’s race as they break the two-hour marathon barrier.
“I don’t know how they ran the second lap because I don’t think London is a particularly fast course,” he says. “Honestly, it blew my mind that they were able to run that fast.”
Tigist Assefa also lowered the women’s only mark to 2:15:41 in LondonMeanwhile, the outright record remains Ruth Chepngetich’s 2:09:56 from 2024, despite the Kenyan’s subsequent suspension for anti-doping violations. The second-fastest time ever came earlier this year from unknown Ethiopian Fotien Tesfa, who clocked 2:10:51 in March.
But with men breaking the two-hour barrier, what might now be possible for the world’s fastest women?
“It just keeps getting crazier,” McColgan added. “Now it’s hard to follow. We had 2:09 and then I thought, “It doesn’t make sense” and it wasn’t real. But then someone else comes along who you haven’t really heard of and runs 2:10, so to be honest, I don’t know where it’s going to go.
“I don’t know if we’re going to see women running 2:09, but I can only focus on myself. I try not to dwell on it too much and I just want to try to improve every year.
“It’s one place higher than last year, but I know I have 2:20 in me. I think it’s just a matter of time before that happens, so I’d like to target Berlin or Chicago, where there are groups of people and it’s known for being incredibly smooth. We’ll allow it. It’s still on my list.”
Meanwhile, Rose Harvey was the second British athlete in ninth place in 2:26:14, with Louise Small rounding out the top three in 2:28:29 in 11th, with Jess Warner-Judd 12th in 2:29:28 in her second marathon.
The performance meant a lot to Harvey after a knee cartilage problem made even running the marathon distance this spring seem like a remote possibility.
“I was really happy to get through it and hopefully I did enough to qualify for the European Championships (in Birmingham this summer),” said Harvey, whose marathon best is 2:23:21.
“I only came back from injury at the end of last year and only started running in January, so I thought there wouldn’t be a spring marathon, but I really wanted to get to London. I only swam and I hate swimming. Many thanks to my team who helped me and believed in me.”
