Scottish Catholic Observer

Scottish athlete Liz McColgan has signed up to take part in RelayGB—the world record attempt for the most back-to-back marathons—and needs at least 30 more Scots to join her.

The RelayGB charity fundraising event from May 4-24 will see hundreds of runners covering 2600 miles around Britain in over 100 non-stop marathons to break the world record for distance relay running and raise half a million pounds for Brain Tumour UK in the process.

Ms McColgan, a former pupil at the former St Saviour’s High School in Dundee, has won Olympic and Commonwealth medals for distance running. She will run the 26 miles between Arbroath and St Andrews in RelayGB, passing through Dundee and crossing the Tay on May 16 before handing over to the next set of runners.

She was inspired to take part in the event by Carolyn Pierpont, 33, from Montrose, Angus, who is running two marathon legs in the event with her partner, Mark, 32, who has first hand experience of brain tumours.

“I’m supporting RelayGB because I am inspired by Carolyn and Mark’s motivation to raise funds and awareness,” Ms McColgan said.

Ms McColgan’s potential as a runner was spotted by Phil Cairns, then head of PE at St Saviour’s, when she was a pupil at the now closed school. Mr Cairns, a parishioner at Our Lady of Good Council, Broughty Ferry, was a keen runner himself at the time.

The Scottish part of the Relay GB route starts at Gretna and travels up to Glasgow, up to Loch Lomond, Fort William and up through the Muir of Ord, Kilbreck, Loch Loyal and onto Tongue. Thenthe route heads east on the A836 all the way to Thurso, Castletown and Kirkstyle, before heading south past Skirza to Wick and down to Golspie, continuing south through Inverness, round to Aberdeen, Dundee, St Andrews, and down to Edinburgh before heading into England.

The event is open to runners who can share a 26-mile leg as a team as well as to individual marathon runners. Once the route is completed and verified, everyone who runs will be able to say that they took part in a world record.

—Click here to visit the RelayGb website to find out more and sign up.