Eilish McColgan broke the British 10-mile record at the Great South Run this weekend, slashing 28 seconds off Paula Radcliffe’s 51:11 set in 2008.
McColgan’s time of 50:43 also makes her the course record holder – she ran 17 seconds faster than Sonia O’Sullivan, who set the women's record at the event in 2002.
The 30-year-old’s victory caps off what has been an incredible season for the Scottish athlete.
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Last month, she shattered her 10K PB to win the Great Manchester Run and then took second at the Great North Run. In August, she also reached the Olympic 10,000m final in Tokyo.
Published: 18 October 2021 Radcliffe’s long-standing records – the women’s 5,000m. She clocked a time of 14:28.55 at a Diamond League meet in Oslo, beating Radcliffe’s 17-year record by 16 seconds.
Her most recent triumph in Portsmouth yesterday makes McColgan a three-time winner of the Great South Run.
Team GB’s Jess Piasecki followed her home to take second in 51:50, with 2021 European Indoor bronze medallist over 3000m, Verity Ockenden in third in 54:07.
Jack Rowe of Aldershot, Farnham & District AC took first place in the men’s elite race in 47:20, followed by Emile Cairess of Leeds City in second in 47:38 and Bedford and County’s Daniel Jarvis in third in 48:48.
Four NHS staff members were invited to perform official starters duties at the event, to pay tribute to the work of all health and care staff during the pandemic. They were Emergency Department Matrons Bethan Hutton and Emma Tomkinson, Bereavement Services Manager Karen Roberts, and Physiotherapist Lewis Hope, who work at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.
The event, which has not run since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, saw more than 16,000 people of all ages and abilities taking part.
Entries for next year’s Great South Run on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 October 2022 are now open. Find out more and enter here.
