Great Scottish Run 150m short: Eilish McColgan records invalidated

Eilish McColgan took gold in the 10,000m and silver in the 5,000m at this year's Commonwealth GamesGetty Images

Eilish McColgan took gold in the 10,000m and silver in the 5,000m at this year's Commonwealth Games

The 10,000m records set by Eilish McColgan in the 2022 Great Scottish Run have been invalidated after the course in Glasgow was found to be 150m short.

The Commonwealth Games champion, 31, ran what was a new British record and surpassed her own European mark by finishing in 30 minutes 18 seconds.

But human error meant an area was not laid out in line with agreed plans.

"Human errors happen. The organisers have been so apologetic. They feel very embarrassed," she told BBC Scotland.

"But I have no bad words to say. I only ran a second faster in Glasgow than in Manchester earlier this year so it doesn't really change my year in all honesty.

"Yes it would have been nice to finish my season on a personal best and another record, but for me it is not the end of the world.

"I'm sure that are loads of races round the world that aren't measured correctly and the only reason this one has been highlighted is because I broke a record. So I've probably given the organisers a headache."

It is the second time the Great Scottish Run has fallen short after the half-marathon course in 2016 was also later found to be about 150m shy in distance.

That error invalidated the record set by Scotsman Callum Hawkins, who won this year's men's half marathon in 1:03:35 ahead of Adam Craig and his brother Derek.

The Great Run Company say the error had a marginal effect on the half marathon but it was within tolerance and the course was valid.

The records for McColgan had capped a stand-out year for the Dundonian after her first major title in the Commonwealth Games 10,000m, a silver in the 5,000m in Birmingham, plus two medals in the European Championships.

McColgan, who shaved one second off her previous best in the race in Glasgow on 2 October, had not run outdoors in Scotland since the 2014 Commonwealth Games but competed in the Great Scottish Run after withdrawing from the London Marathon.

Remarkably, the Scot was not surprised to be told by the organisers in a phone call on Tuesday that the course was short - because she felt that was the case on the day.

"My gut feeling was that it was short. I crossed the line and said straight away to my partner 'I think that is out by about 15 or 20 seconds'," she added.

"It's not a huge amount, but I am used to running 10ks - I know pace and I know distance, and that to me did not feel like a 30:18. It did not feel that pace. So it didn't come as a huge surprise to me."

This year's event attracted about 20,000 runners - doing 10,000m or half marathons - and was the first Great Scottish Run to take place in three years after the 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We have been in touch with Eilish directly to explain and to apologise," said Paul Foster, chief executive of organisers Great Run Company.

"We will be reviewing our internal processes to ensure we cannot make this mistake again. There are no excuses for this happening and we're very sorry."

The Newcastle-based company said after the 2016 mistake - which was in a different part of the course - that several extra check steps had been implemented to ensure the situation would not be repeated.

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