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Liz McColgan was an amazingly versatile runner, not only contesting
distances ranging from a mile to a marathon, but also successfully
competing on a variety of surfaces, including indoor and outdoor tracks,
cross-country, and on the road. Competing initially under her maiden
name of Lynch, Liz had shown early promise as a junior athlete, but it
wasn't until she accepted a sports scholarship to the USA, firstly at a
junior college in Idaho, and then at the University of Alabama, that her
career began to truly blossom.
Liz's best result during her USA
college years was a victory in the mile at the 1986 National Collegiate
indoor championships in Oklahoma City. However, soon after winning this
title, Liz's college career was over. On the basis of misleading
advice, Liz had deposited prize money she had won at a couple of road
races into a trust fund to be collected upon her retirement. This was
standard and acceptable practice for amateur athletes at that time, but
outside the national collegiate rules which barred acceptance of prize
money under any circumstances. Ruled ineligible for USA college
competition, Liz returned home to Scotland in 1986, and soon after her
arrival, she won the 10,000m at the UK national championships on 26 May.
Two months later, on 28 July, Liz competed in the 10,000m at the
Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, where, after following the pace set
throughout most of the race by Anne Audain (New Zealand), Liz sprinted
clear with two laps remaining to win the title. Not only did she win a
Commonwealth gold medal (see photo above), but she also set a new
Commonwealth record of 31min 41.42sec. The following month, she
competed at the European Championships in Stuttgart, where she finished
12th in the 3000m, and 7th in the 10000m. (Ron Casey)
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