Former 10,000m world champion and Olympic silver medallist talks about her journey from athlete to mentor
Former world 10,000m champion and Olympic silver medallist Liz McColgan is coach to daughter Eilish, the reigning Commonwealth 10,000m champion and multiple British record-holder. She is also a coach at Doha Athletics Club, which she set up when she moved to Qatar in 2013.
McColgan also works as Director of Sporting Academy Programmes at Qatar Foundation and is responsible for developing its Creating Pathways Programme. Launched as part of the Foundation’s FIFA World Cup legacy plans, the Programme – which contributes to Qatar’s 2030 vision to enhance and build women’s sports participation – aims to encourage girls aged 12-16 to play sport, highlighting the importance of exercise, nutrition and overall wellbeing.
How did you get into coaching?
My coach Harry Bennett [at Dundee Hawkhill Harriers] died when I was 17, so I coached myself for pretty much all of my career. I probably knew a lot more about training than other athletes around me at the time because I really delved into what endurance running was. I’d go up to people like George Gandy and Harry Wilson and ask questions, and they’d be really supportive and helpful.
The first person I coached was Collette Fagan. She won a European juniors 5000m bronze in 2001, just before I retired myself. Working with Collette made me realise how much I enjoyed the challenge of trying to fit a programme around someone else and figuring out how to get the best out of her. I knew it was something I wanted to do.
As I progressed through my retirement, Eilish was coming onto the scene. She was 11 or 12 when she first got asked to race cross country by her PE teacher and she loved it. She’d only been running about four or five months when I ended up coaching at the club and very quickly I developed a really good group [at Dundee Hawkhill Harriers].
I later decided to start up an “elite” club which I funded myself. I was very fortunate that we ended up with a lot of great kids, including some of the best young distance runners in the UK at the time.
Liz McColgan (Bobby Gavin)
Who was your greatest coaching influence?
My main influence was Harry. When I was young he’d throw books at me to read like The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, or books on training and the science behind the sport.
When I was training he’d say: “Why do you think we’re doing this session?”, so he was educating me all along and I learned an awful lot. I think the basis of all my coaching comes from him and the trial and error we went through when I was younger.
I know endurance inside out now. That’s not only because I’ve read about it, but because I participated in it and self-coached myself to the highest level. That doesn’t mean you have to be a runner to be a good coach, but if you are a runner and you’ve done what I’ve done I think it gives you a bit of an edge. You have a better understanding of how it feels when you’re absolutely knackered and you’re asked to do another rep and you think: “I can’t do it”. You know how to work through that mental process because you’ve been through that yourself.
Liz McColgan at London Marathon (Getty)
From a coaching perspective, what were your first impressions when you moved to Doha and how have things changed since then?
I’d given some motivational talks in international schools and I quickly realised there was a real gap in the market for kids wanting to take part in athletics. A lot of kids wanted to run but there were no opportunities for them, so I created Doha Athletics Club.
There’s a lot of talent here, and now that funding is being put in place to develop the Creating Pathways Programme we’re in a really good position. We’re creating after-school clubs which lead to sporting academies. We’ll then talent ID girls who are eligible to compete for Qatar national teams and partner with the federation to develop girls-only (elite) hubs with age-appropriate coaching and development. It’s a holistic approach that includes mentorship and creation of women’s-only competition. A lot of it is about removing barriers.
We’re also creating the region’s first elite women’s sports academy – a sports facility for women, run by women – by revamping the Education City Stadium [built for the 2022 World Cup]. By developing the Creating Pathways Programme we’re preparing athletically-gifted girls for its opening in 2027.
We’re even going into universities; there’s a bunch of women who would have loved to be on a programme like this but they didn’t get the opportunity. We want to bring those older girls back and help them get coaching qualifications or to become referees and umpires.
You’ve got to have a starting point, and the starting point is now. What we’re trying to do is build participation so that everyone can see the benefits that come from sport. Not everyone can get a gold medal, but everyone can benefit from being active, especially socially.
Once we get the levels of participation and we’ve got safe and fit-for-purpose places for women to train and play sport, then that changes what they bring to future generations in terms of what’s acceptable, how good sport is for you, and what you can get out of it. You’ll eventually have fitter, healthier and happier girls coming through and over time, through greater numbers, you’ve got more of an opportunity to find a better standard of athlete.
For a coach who loves being trackside, how do you navigate the challenges of remote coaching with Eilish?
It works well, although I admit that I do miss the eye contact. I love watching an athlete like Eilish, it’s like poetry in motion when she moves because it’s effortless. You can also see if you need to change things, for example if she’s tired. Working remotely, you miss that, but the good thing working online with Eilish – and it doesn’t work with everybody – is the amazing amount of information she gives me. It’s just clicked, maybe that’s because I’m her mother as well, but the amount of information is constant and it works.
Eilish is also so in-tune with her body we know if she’s got a sniffle two days before she’s got it. We’ve worked so much together we see the warning signs before they come. The only thing I’m missing is actually seeing her running and that’s where Michael [Eilish’s partner Michael Rimmer] comes in; he sees her running, and they send a lot of videos which helps. Technology makes online coaching a little bit easier.
Eilish McColgan (Getty)
Do you ever clash, and as a parent and coach how do you manage that?
We don’t always agree. I didn’t want her to do the Europeans [last summer] and I didn’t actually think she should go to the Olympics, but she’s an adult with her own mind.
Coaching over the years is also like a mentorship and you’ve got to listen to your athlete. Eilish wanted to do four Olympics. I was like: “Why does it matter?”, but it mattered to her and I had to respect that. I knew that she wasn’t in PB shape. She hadn’t raced and sometimes you need races to click. She understood all that, but it was important to her to be there and she deserved it. She’d run the time and she’d been selected by right. Now she can say she’s been to four Olympics and she’s the first Scottish track and field athlete to achieve that, so I’m proud of her.
People have different motivations and goals. Eilish is totally different from me. If I couldn’t run my best and get a medal I wouldn’t go, but that’s not Eilish, she’s more emotional, she’s got more empathy, and she cares about things in a way that I probably wouldn’t. As a coach you have to support that. We all went to Paris to support her and she ran well. She was also there for Megan [Keith], which was a nice end to her Olympics.
Eilish McColgan and Megan Keith (Getty)
How would you describe your coaching philosophy?
I don’t think you’re a born endurance runner. I’d say sprinters are born, but I think you can develop a really good distance runner over the years through hard work if they’ve got the right mentality and desire. When I’m looking at athletes I never look for the fastest people, I look at how they move and their headspace because sometimes you just need to be that little bit stubborn to be a good endurance runner.
What do you enjoy most about coaching?
One of the greatest kids I ever came across was Graeme Oudney. I saw him recently and to see him as the person he is now, having worked with him for so many years, was really special.
Some athletes just have a place in your heart and you always remember them. That’s what inspires me with running, it’s not just about the training, it’s about the person and the journey they’re on.
That’s what I enjoy now. You see girls who are so happy to run because they’ve been given the opportunity to run, not because they’re great at it but because they want to do it. Some coaches lose sight of what coaching is. It’s not about gold medals and winning big races – don’t get me wrong, it’s amazing when that happens – but that’s not what coaching is about. Coaching is about developing life skills that make a difference to people, whether that leads to them being an Olympic champion or running a Race for Life. That’s why I coach.
Liz and a young Eilish McColgan
What’s the best piece of advice you’d give to a new or aspiring coach?
Coach for the right reasons. Develop your skill set, learn what your event is about, and be very honest and direct about the ability of your athletes and what you think they’re capable of. Remember that the advice you’re giving to someone could change their lives, so make sure it’s the right advice.
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