Mhairi superb marathon debut and Callum is back on right road, too

Monday 22nd April 2024

Photo with thanks to Nigel Bramley

Mhairi Maclennan made an excellent marathon debut with a strong run in London to win British and Scottish titles.

The Scottish Half Marathon champion moved up a distance in fine style to record 2:29.15 in the elite race.

And Callum Hawkins won the men’s gold in our championships as he came home sixth British athlete in 2:17.34.

It was the first time in five years Callum has completed a marathon after DNF at the Olympics and subsequent injury issues. His preparation for London this year was affected by a broken collar bone early in 2024.

In the mass race, a strong run from Tom Martyn of Corstorphine AAC athlete at 2:19.56 lands our silver medal with third place taken by Charlie Sandison (Fulham) on 2:20.11.

Mhairi’s excellent run saw her head all the British field in the elite women’s race and take gold in the Scottish champs. Our silver medal heads to Shona McIntosh as Natalie Wangler lands the bronze.

Well done to Mhair and Callum and their coaches, Ross Cairns and Robert Hawkins.

*We wull update on other Scottish medals over the next week.

"I had the debut of dreams."

Mhairi MacLennan finishes at the @LondonMarathon with a time of 2:29:15🏃‍♀️

The Scot reflects on an incredible and emotional run in what was her first ever marathon 💥

After suffering with illness for the last five years, she looks ahead to continue… pic.twitter.com/0rWgZYzuB8

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) April 21, 2024

In the Wheelchair events, there was a really strong performance from Joanna Robertson. The Aberdeen AAC athlete took fully ten minutes off her PB to come home in 2:18.44.

And it was brilliant to see Julie McElroy make history as the first Frame Runner to complete the London Marathon thanks to a huge effort from the VP-Glasgow athlete and her support team.

It’s a day of record breaking at the @LondonMarathon💥@juliemcelroy became the first female frame runner to complete the 26.2 mile course with her support runner Gill Menzies in 5.59:31

Huge congratulations on this amazing achievement 🙌#framerunner #supportedrunnerproject pic.twitter.com/kP0xb8sJ8n

— The Richard Whitehead Foundation (@Whitehead_Found) April 21, 2024