FROM A YOUNG age, I was engulfed in athletics. All I remember is growing up in an environment surrounded by two international athletes. My mum, Liz, was 1991 world champion at 10,000m and an Olympic silver medallist and dad, Peter, was Northern Ireland steeplechase record-holder, so I spent hours and hours of my early years trackside in a pram. To many people, it was a given that this would be my chosen sport and that, “gifted with the genetics”, that I was effectively born to run.
But, it’s not that straightforward. Speaking to contemporaries who are in a similar situation to me, I realise how being blessed with good genes can potentially be offset by other pressures that come with having parents who have reached the top level in sport.
Eilish McColgan in discussion with her mother, Liz, in 2003
PICTURES: MARK SHEARMAN