From choosing what to do outside of her running career to breaking records and setting lofty goals, Eilish McColgan explains why she’ll focus on what’s close to her heart.
Eilish McColgan thinks about the future. Not just about his upcoming comeback London Marathon in Aprilor any ambition he may have to defend the Commonwealth 10,000m title in Glasgow this summer, but beyond that and until such time as he is no longer one of the world’s elite distance runners.
Last year, the Scotsman turned 35 years old. he now qualifies for the first of the veteran nominations, and he won’t deny that he’s well aware that time is running out. She is enjoying every moment of being a professional athlete, with an overwhelming sense of gratitude and pride that she can still run for a living after an incredibly difficult recovery from left knee surgery she had in 2023. It’s only natural that he wonders what might be next, and it looks like, thankfully, an accounting loss will be.
“If you’d asked me years ago, I would have assumed it had something to do with my degree,” he tells AW. “I studied math and accounting, and I just thought I’d use it one day. But the last time I looked at anything even remotely related to it was in 2012. I feel so out of it and I just can’t see not being in the sport to some extent.”
He has a few thoughts on what that ability might be. He is no stranger to coaching, while he and his fiance Michael Rimmer (a former Olympic 800m runner) founded the Giving Back to Track initiative to support young athletes through scholarships and free after-school clubs in disadvantaged areas of Scotland, as well as helping clubs through funding. McColgan has had a long career and the four-time Olympian certainly doesn’t want everything she’s learned to go to waste.
“I have been training for a long time,” he says. “It’s all online at the moment because I’m in my own career, but it’s an element I’d like to go deeper into.
I’ve also thought about going into the agency side of things because I’ve seen a lot, I’ve experienced a lot and I think there’s a lot that young athletes could do with a female agent, not a lot of female agents at all, but also just someone who’s there purely to take care of the athletes.
“It wasn’t going to be a money making project for me. I would love to do it because it’s a passion project. Maybe it would be helping young female athletes compete, helping them with sponsorships, branding deals, things like that. Michael agrees. I think we have accumulated so much knowledge over the years and it would be worse if the younger generation didn’t try. package”.
He adds: “I would like to continue to support young female athletes, try and run more free after school groups at no cost to primary schools as PE continues to be cut. There are fewer hours for children week after week, and that’s just stupid.
“I’d like to spend a bit more time on that side of things and really, really try and make an impact. Those kinds of passion projects are going to be what I’m looking at after my own athletics career.”
And will that passion extend to management? McColgan has never been afraid to speak out about issues he believes need to be addressed within the sport. An articulate, engaging individual like her would certainly bring a lot to the table when it comes to decision making and politics.
“Less,” he smiles diplomatically when asked if that route would interest him. “I want to fall in love with the sport and I think if I go down those roads, maybe I’ll see things I don’t want to see. I still like mainstream, up and coming, the purest side of it. The elite side of things is much more complicated.
“At the end of the day, I enjoy seeing kids just enjoy our sport and the sport that I love. It definitely gets more difficult as you go up the ladder, so I think I’d probably like to stay and develop more.
“Never say never. I’m always there to have a conversation, I’ll always be honest and give my opinions and views, but I think I can get frustrated on that side of things. For me, the real grassroots — kids playing sports and young people playing sports — is what I’m most passionate about.”
Regardless of which path he ultimately chooses to take, it’s safe to say that McColgan will have no shortage of things to do. For now, though, he’s thankfully still busy with another of his passion projects, the sporting ambitions he hopes to realize in 2026, and where he comes from a position of real strength.
Last September’s Great North Run was the first time he can remember feeling like his body, and especially his knee, was starting to respond the way he wanted it to. After that surgery in 2023, which led to months away from running, there was underlying concern that he would never reach the heights of his medal-winning, record-breaking past. His run of 30:08 in Valencia last month, which was a European record, meant a lot and was not only reassuring but a huge boost to enthusiasm.
“It was nice to feel like all the training we’ve been doing over the last three years is going for something,” he says. “Because you start asking.
“I’m not stupid, I know that at some point those goals have to change, I have to start looking at different things and the goals may not be as big or as extreme as they are now, but I feel really lucky to be in a position where I’ve had such a long career, I’ve come back from a lot of serious injuries, but I’ve still been able to get back to being my best. I was paid just that one PB – that’s the bonus I get from it.
The beginning of the year was busy. A record in Valencia last month, a half-marathon meeting in Japan, which took place on February 1 and was announced at London’s elite fields. McColgan’s 26.2 mile debut, twice delayed by injury, resulted in eighth place and a Scottish record of 2:24:25, beating her mother Liz’s PB (a former London winner). Aylish admits that the preparation for that race was rushed because she was “chasing to get fit”. This year is already different.
“With the marathon, I feel like there’s a huge chunk that can come out of that time,” he says. “Deep down I’d like to break 2:20. There aren’t many European women in the world, or even American women, who have ever been under 2:20, so that seems like a bit of a hurdle. I’d like to be one of those women moving towards that and ultimately getting as close to the best as possible.”
There will certainly be a lot of attention and support in the coming months. McColgan has noticed that his return to fitness isn’t just helping him.
Some of the young kids that messaged me (Valencia), especially some of the young women that I work with through Giving Back To Track… they’ve all been traumatized, they’ve all got issues that they’re going through. The messages they sent me saying: In the grand scheme of things, they’re going to be fine, they’re young enough to recover, and it gives them a little bit of hope that they have plenty of time.
“I think when you’re young, you have an injury and then you panic and think: I’ve got time on my side and I’ll be able to come back if I do it right.”
Is that the advice he would have passed on to his younger self when he was starting to make his way in the sport?
“When you’re younger, you’re very strong, and I just always thought: “I’ll be back. I’m young. I’ll be able to do it.” There was never such a doubt,” he says. “When you get older, it takes longer (to come back). When you’re young, you can twist your ankle and an hour later you’re back out and running again, but if you do it in your 30s, I’m sure it’s more when you’re in your 40s and 50s and your 60s, then the different aspects of recovery.
“But I’d say I’d probably be more patient. I think when I was younger I would always try to get back to the next race. You were always looking for the next race, the next race, the next race and trying to prepare for it. You’re probably doing races you weren’t ready for, and that has negative implications for the next one.
“Obviously there’s an element of it that’s my job now, so yeah, you rush into the race because (something like) the Olympics is a big deal. But I would say that since London we have been a bit more specific. All in all, I would say being a little more patient would probably have benefited me a lot in my younger years.
