Eilish McColgan: 'I've got a big year of sport but no wedding plans'

Commonwealth Games champion Eilish McColgan said she has had to put wedding planning on hold as she prepares for a "big year of sport".

The 10,000m gold medallist announced her engagement to fellow athlete Michael Rimmer in May, just days after she competed in her first London marathon.

The couple, who have been dating for more than a decade, posted pictures on Instagram of the proposal in front of Mount Fiji in Japan.

McColgan told The Saturday Show on BBC Radio Scotland they had originally intended to tie the knot in 2026 but plans for the big day were currently "non-existent".

McColgan said: "We were very gung-ho at the start.

"Getting engaged is exciting, but life has just taken over and it's hard when you're a professional athlete."

The 35-year-old has now decided to find a wedding planner while she balances her busy schedule and continues to "live out of a suitcase".

McColgan said she wanted to get married in Scotland surrounded by friends and family.

But she will not be roping in her mum, Liz, to help out despite the former world 10,000m champion being desperate to step in and lend a hand.

"Every couple of days she's pestering me asking if I've looked at dresses or done anything, and I've not," McColgan revealed.

"If I let my mum plan my wedding, she'd have it arranged by this weekend and we'd be married in a barn somewhere.

"She's all over it but I want to do some of it myself and not let her take over."

The Dundonian kicked off her year with a new women's 10km record in Valencia, knocking 12 seconds off her previous personal best.

And she credits her preparation over the festive period, which included four days alongside Rimmer retracing her childhood running routes, with her success.

McColgan said: "It's really special being home and I try hard to come back for Christmas every year so I can have an easier week of training and catch up with my family.

"But this year was different because I trained through Christmas.

"I had a really hard session along the waterfront in Dundee then a session on the cross-trainer in my dad's living room, but it all paid off and it was worth it."

And with the Commonwealth Games only six months away, McColgan's training shows no signs of slowing down as she hopes to return to the track again.

"If the Commonwealth Games were anywhere else in the world, I wouldn't be running at them this year," the four-time Olympian said.

"But it's hard to turn down a home Games and there is something special about it coming back to Glasgow for me."

McColgan has won silver and bronze medals at European level over 3,000m, 5,000m and 10,000m during a glittering career.

But she is best remembered for her 10,000m triumph and 5,000m silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

McColgan recently turned her attention to road racing as she enters what she has described as "the last chapter" of her career.

Last April, she ran her first competitive marathon in London and crossed the line in 2:24:25 to set a new Scottish record.

Liz McColgan completed the London marathon in 2:26:52 in 1997, having won the iconic 26.2 mile (42.2km) event the year before.

But her daughter has now broken all of her mother's personal bests, the majority of which were British records at one point.

"The marathon is something that I feel I have a lot of untapped potential in, which excites me," she said.

"It's very different to the track so it's totally new to me, but London was an incredible experience, and I can now call myself a marathoner."

During preparations for the marathon McColgan received body shaming comments on social media, suggesting she had anorexia.

The runner said her usual reaction was to feel "no emotion".

But McColgan admitted she struggled when she received racist comments after announcing her engagement.

"The abuse was absolutely disgusting," she said.

"Normally I'm numb to it but it's the first time I felt upset while reading what people were saying about Michael and our partnership.

"It made me realise other people's emotions are involved and it's not nice for my family to read."

But McColgan said she tried not to get caught up in it as she looks to the future.

She has already broken Paula Radcliffe's records in the 10km and half marathon.

But now she has her sights set on the former world champion's 2003 British marathon record of 2:15:25.

She said: "It's time to really start trying to attack times now.

"Paula's time seems insane to me. There's a lot of grown men across the UK that would be very happy to run that time so for a woman to do it, it's pretty remarkable.

"But never say never. I want to dream big."

Listen to the full interview on The Saturday Show from 11:00 GMT on BBC Sounds.