Great North Run 2025: Eilish McColgan hoping to emulate mum in iconic race

Eilish McColgan is hoping to follow in the footsteps of her mum and finally clinch victory in Sunday's Great North Run. The Scottish star has narrowly missed out twice in emulating her mother Liz in winning the event that will feature 60,000 other runners.

McColgan was pipped to top spot in an epic sprint finish in 2021, but is hoping to go one better this time around when she takes on the half marathon route from Newcastle to South Shields.

She said: "It's such an iconic race. I've watched it from a young age, my mum's won there, legends of the sport have all won this race.

"I've been so close on both occasions. Ultimately, I'd love to go there and take the win and it would be amazing. But I am very aware that the field is always really strong."

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McColgan, 34, won Commonwealth 10,000m gold earlier in her career but has been hampered by injury problems in recent years. However, the Asics-sponsored athlete finally made her marathon debut in London in April, breaking her mum's Scottish record in the process.

McColgan is hoping to make up for lost time and will use the Great North Run as preparation for her next marathon attempt in New York in November.

She added: "I just needed to get around a marathon and feel like I could do it, because I didn't want it to end up becoming more of a mental thing, that I'm always just never quite going to make it to a start line.

"I've lost two years of the peak part of my career but I'm trying not to think too much about that and think I've almost saved those years. Maybe those are banked extra years, where I can now push on in the future."

Marc Scott leads Britain's charge in the elite men's race, aiming to repeat his 2021 success, but faces competition from defending champion Abel Kipchumba, Alex Mutiso Munyao and Bashir Abdi.

Eilish McColgan is a Science in Sport Ambassador. The nutrition experts SiS are also the Official Nutrition Partner of the AJ Bell Great North Run. Try the BETA Fuel Energy gels, as used by Eilish McColgan, here.