By an IAAF correspondent
23 May 2001 - Liz McColgan, the former 10,000 metres world champion who disappeared off the international athletics scene to have a family, is making a comeback.
Almost 10 years since she produced the run of her life with arguably one of the greatest performances in the history of the World Championships, she does not intend to just to make up the numbers.
At 36, Scotland’s McColgan has announced she will run in a road race over five miles in Manchester in July as a springboard for what she hopes will be the next part of a career where she believes she still has much to achieve as a marathon runner.
McColgan won her first marathon in New York and she has set her sights on returning to the American race this November as she contemplates running in next year’s Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England.
“This (road race) is the start of my comeback,” she said. “My main aim for this year is New York and we shall take it from there.
“I believe I have a lot to offer at the distance and though time has moved on, I will go to the start line with the desire that I can win. It is something you never lose.
“I don’t know what my plans will be for next year but I do not feel I have achieved what I am capable of.
“I don’t have anything to prove to anyone else but I want to prove to myself I can still compete at the top.”
McColgan gave birth to her third child earlier this year but she still runs at least 90 miles a week and is evidence that when running is in your blood, there is little you can do to stop the drive for glory.
“It is all about fitting my running in with the children,” she said. “But it can be done. It can be tricky but I seem to do it! I am looking forward to the edge of competition again, it something you do not lose.
“I am not saying I am going to win this or that but I will be in there running with the same belief as I have always had.”
It was another of those sultry nights in Tokyo at the 1991 World Championships when McColgan defied the logic of distance running by winning the 10,000m with a performance of incredible guts. She took control of the race and ran almost the whole of the distance on her own in front.
She had won the 10000 at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh but always had such phenomenal strength that she was perfectly suited to the marathon. After her triumph in New York, she progressed to win the London marathon on two occasions.
The British record is 2:25.56, set by Veronique Marot in 1989, and McColgan added: “I accept I am not now going to run 2:20 but I can run 2:23.”
