I’VE NEVER BEEN SO SCARED! Eilish McColgan admits she is ‘bricking it’ as she attempts to beat mum Liz’s personal record in London Marathon

By DAVID COVERDALE

Eilish McColgan aims to claim family bragging rights when she makes her long-awaited London Marathon debut on Sunday.

The 34-year-old admits she is ‘bricking it’ ahead of her first 26.2-mile race at the event her mother Liz famously won in 1996.

But McColgan wants to beat her mum’s personal best of 2hr 26min 52sec from 1997, which stood as a Scottish record until Steph Twell broke it by just 12sec in 2019.

‘I’ve never been this scared,’ said the Commonwealth 10,000m champion, who pulled out of the 2023 race at the 11th hour because of injury.

‘I am bricking it. It’s just completely unknown because I’ve never got anywhere near 26 miles.

‘I just want a smooth first marathon experience. But, in the back of my mind, I’d love to break my mum’s PB. That’s obviously a goal.

Eilish McColgan, left, poses with her Commonwealth Games gold medal with mum Liz back in 2022. Now she plans to follow her mother’s trail in the London Marathon

Eilish McColgan promotes Sunday’s London Marathon in front of Buckingham Palace

The Scot admits she would love to beat her mother’s personal best but admits it will be a nerve-wracking experience for her

‘It would be really special. I wouldn’t be here today without my mum and her advice and her training plans over the years. It would be nice to bring another record back into my mum’s name.’

McColgan was just five years old when she watched her mum — who is not attending on Sunday — win on the streets of the capital 29 years ago.

‘I remember sitting in the hospitality tent eating all the free food and watching a tiny TV with no idea Mum was actually in the London Marathon!’ recalled McColgan.

‘Aged five, you have no idea how big the London Marathon is. I never believed I’d be on the start line in the elite field, so it feels pretty surreal.’

Meanwhile, McColgan has called on social media companies to introduce proper verification checks to eradicate trolls, having recently gone public about the horrific body-shaming she has faced online.

‘I think verification would make a big difference, where someone has to link their passport or something,’ she added. ‘At the moment, it’s nameless and faceless.

‘Verification could be a pretty quick way to eradicate a lot of the people on there and a lot of these messages.

Eilish McColgan wins the women’s 10,000m final at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022

Mother and daughter share a special moment after Eilish’s golden triumph three years ago

Mum Liz after winning the London Marathon in 1996. Now her daughter is going to have her first attempt at the event this Sunday

‘I’ve become pretty numb to it. It’s happened for so many years and I get comments probably every day.

‘I’ve almost normalised it, but it shouldn’t be normal. I call it out because I have a lot of young kids who follow me.

‘I don’t want them to read it and think that the reason I’m fast is because I starve myself or that skinny means fast.

‘If the next generation don’t have to deal with all that nonsense, then it’s been a job well done.’

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I’VE NEVER BEEN SO SCARED! Eilish McColgan admits she is ‘bricking it’ as she attempts to beat mum Liz’s personal record in London Marathon

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