'I've been so close' - McColgan targets Great North Run win

Eilish McColgan finished eighth on her London Marathon debut in April

Great North Run

Date: Sunday, 7 September Course: Newcastle to South Shields

Coverage: Watch live on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website & app 10:00-14:00 BST; finish line camera on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website & app 11:15-17:15 BST; highlights on BBC Two 18:30-19:30 BST

Eilish McColgan hopes this year's Great North Run will prove third time lucky after twice going close to emulating her mum with victory.

The 34-year-old Scot beat three-time winner Liz McColgan's best time on the course from Newcastle to South Shields last year.

But the 2021 runner-up crossed the line five seconds behind winner Mary Ngugi-Cooper in a dramatic six-athlete sprint finish on that occasion.

"Obviously, everyone would love to win. 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," McColgan told BBC Sport.

"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."

McColgan will be joined by Kenya's New York marathon winner Sheila Chepkirui and two-time Great North Run winner Vivian Cheruiyot on Sunday's start line, alongside 60,000 other runners.

Britain's 2021 winner Marc Scott faces Kenya's defending champion Abel Kipchumba, 2024 London Marathon winner Alex Mutiso Munyao and Belgium's European marathon record holder Bashir Abdi in the elite men's race.

The elite wheelchair races feature Scotland's 2024 runner-up Sean Frame, Commonwealth medallist Simon Lawson and Paralympian Mel Nicholls.

It has already been a significant year for McColgan, who ended a two-year wait to make her marathon debut in London in April following knee surgery.

The British 5km, 10km and half marathon record holder, who has spent the past two months training at altitude in Font Romeu, admits that accomplishment felt like a "weight lifted" following a "really difficult" period.

"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," said McColgan.

"It was a real confidence boost, knowing it'll never be as nerve-wracking as that. Now that I've done it, it definitely feels like a weight lifted off me and I'm just looking forward to this next marathon build-up. I've learned an awful lot."

Eilish McColgan returned from injury in time to appear at her fourth Olympics in Paris last summer

McColgan has had to learn to trust her body again after injury struck at the peak of her career, with Commonwealth 10,000m gold and national records on the track and road from 5,000m to the half marathon achieved between 2021 and 2023.

Forced to take six months off to fix her knee issue, her cautious approach to training for this year's London Marathon paid off as she broke her mum's Scottish record in two hours and 24 minutes.

"When you're in the absolute shape of your life, you are always just a knife edge away from pushing a little bit too hard," added McColgan.

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

McColgan has been announced among the elites for November's New York Marathon, although that is not set in stone as she adapts to this final chapter of her career.

The immediate target is to run a sub-2:20 marathon, before exploring how much further below she can push - with Paula Radcliffe's British record of 2:15:25 on her radar.

"What gives me confidence that [breaking the British marathon record] is possible is the fact that I've broken all the other national records and, from speaking to Paula, she's said there's no reason why it's not possible," said McColgan.

"When you even have the person telling you that, it's obviously only going to give me confidence to think it is possible."

Great North Run course and start times

The annual 13.1-mile Great North Run starts in Newcastle city centre, crosses the River Tyne and goes through Gateshead before finishing by the sea in South Shields.

Start times:

10:20 BST - Elite wheelchair

10:25 BST - Elite women

10:27 BST - Visually impaired

10:50 BST - Elite men and masses