No one can argue that it’s been an extraordinary year for Scottish athlete, Eilish McColgan. She’s had the season of her life, which has seen her set new British and European records over 5K, 10K and half marathon distances.

So, when she found out this week that her ‘record-breaking’ 10K performance at The Great Scottish Run earlier this month was ‘invalidated’ due to a shortfall on the course, she was fairly sanguine about it, tweeting: “Obviously disappointed with this news, but these things happen! Thankfully my British and European Record still stands from the Great Manchester 10K.”

Organisers of the event, Great Run Company, had recently confirmed that the 10K course was short by 150m and contacted Eilish directly to break the news that her 30:18 British and European record-breaking time was void. 

Paul Foster, chief executive of the Great Run Company commented: “We were recently made aware of a discrepancy with the 10K course at this year’s Great Scottish Run. Following an internal investigation, we have established it was 150m short.

“The shortfall in the distance was wholly due to human error. An area of the course was not laid out in line with the previously agreed plans. This error had a marginal knock-on to the half marathon but it was within tolerance and the course on the day was valid.

“We’re extremely disappointed that this happened at the 10K, on what was an incredibly positive return to the city for the Great Scottish Run following the pandemic. We will be reviewing our internal processes to ensure we cannot make this mistake again. We know we’ve let our customers down on this occasion. There are no excuses for this happening and we’re very sorry.”

Clearly there will be other 10K participants who are disappointed that their official times have been nullified, but in a world where so many genuinely terrible things are happening and way bigger mistakes are being made, perhaps developing  Eilish’s sense of perspective is the best course. For those who feel they have a score to settle, Great Run are offering 2022 participants a 10% discount on entry to the 2023 event.

You can find out more about next year's race, by visiting the Great Run website here. 

Image: Great Run