The president of Eilish McColgan ’s old athletics club claims Scotland has its own Lionesses - with golden girl Eilish and Laura Muir at the head of the pack. Nigel Reynolds said he and wife Catriona, also a coach at Dundee Hawkshill Harriers, virtually ran the last battling lap of Eilish’s golden win in the 10,000m, before punching the air in joy as they shared the taste of success.
Both fully expected the gritty athlete to come up trumps in Birmingham, digging out the last ounce of speed with the same courage shown by mum Liz when winning Commonwealth gold in Edinburgh 36 years earlier.
And Peter believes the latest success on the track will lead to another big rush towards athletics by local youngsters, all inspired to become the next Eilish. Peter, 61, joined the Hawks 15 years ago and has watched Eilish’s trajectory go up and up.
He said: “I’ve known both Eilish and Liz for many years and I felt extremely proud watching her charge her way to a gold medal, just like Liz had all those years ago. She most certainly has her mother’s grit.
“In the last 18 months she has taken things to a new level and she may well keep improving. More importantly, Eilish has already been building a massive legacy for athletics in Dundee, just like her mother did.
“We don’t need The Lionesses in Scotland as we have Eilish at the head of the pack already with Laura Muir as top role models. For our club to produce both of these world class athletes is quite extraordinary.
“These two girls, in particular, will bring a whole new generation of youngsters into athletics and I expect we will have many seeking to follow in their footsteps at Hawkhill in coming months. After London 2012 our membership shot up by 700 per cent, which was crazy, but it showed how positive role models really can influence people.
“In a city like Dundee, where there’s a lot of poverty and social challenges, the success of one of two athletes can go a long way to inspire people and can even help turn some lives around.”
Nigel said Eilish and Liz have already put back in as much as they have taken from the sport.
He said: “Liz was a dedicated coach and Eilish was one of the runners in her distance programme who really benefited from her experience. But Eilish is an outstanding role model and she has put her own money, as well as her time, into developing the sport for youngsters. She really could not be a better role model.”
Nigel - who revealed he hopes Eilish, 32, improves into her 30s - said: “We saw with dame Kelly Holmes that women can keep developing and Eilish may well get into half marathons but, who knows, we could see her on an Olympic podium in a couple of years time.
“If this Commonwealth gold ends up being the pinnacle of her career then what a high it has been. But once she allows this to sink in Eilish will be setting herself new targets.”
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