Back on track: Two years after painful injury, Alisha Rees on why she refused to quit sprinting
Alisha Rees in race action at the Loughborough International last weekend (photo by Bobby Gavin)
By Peter Jardine, Head of Communications
Alisha Rees has revealed how she resisted the temptation to quit athletics after two years of injury and illness.
Scotland’s fastest ever Women’s sprinter – the Edinburgh AC athlete holds the Women’s 100m Record – doesn’t know yet how far her comeback can take her.
But, after a tough road already, returning to the British Champs in August would help give some closure after being injured at the event in Manchester in 2023.
Alisha badly tore her hamstring after an awful fall in torrential conditions at Manchester’s Regional Arena. Further auto-immune health issues in 2024 derailed comeback hopes for many months.
‘It has been a long road back for sure,’ Alisha told us in a candid trackside interview at Loughborough.
‘This time last year I could not hardly walk – or at least not pain-free. If you had told me in May last year that I would be back racing for Scotland at Loughborough then I probably would not have believed you.
‘So I am just grateful to be competing again in athletics.’
After just one outing over 100m so far in 2025, last Sunday saw her race for Scotland in the Women’s 4x100m relay and clock 11.84 seconds in a guest 100m. Two more steps along the road to recovery.
‘Loughborough was my first relay since the Commonwealth Games final in Birmingham in 2022,’ revealed Alisha.
‘To be honest, it would have been easy to say ‘I’ve had enough, I quit’. I definitely thought about quitting.
‘I just did not want to look back on my career a few years from now and think ‘did I do everything in the sport that I might have done?’
‘I will see where the season takes me now. I did not really understand how hard it would be to come back from serious injury. I know now! Especially after two years out.
Alisha with her Scotland relay team-mates at Loughborough (L to R): Taylah Paterson, Lucy Fraser and Lois Garland (photo by Bobby Gavin)
‘I did not do anything for two years. I turned up for training but I could not sprint or do any kind of real work and proper training.
‘I just need to get some races in and have a normal training regime. I think it may take some races to get me back to where I want to be but at the moment I just need to take each race as it comes.
‘Hopefully by the end of the season I am running quicker. I just need to get out there back on the track. Hopefully by August I can go back to the British Champs and rewrite what happened a couple of years ago in Manchester.’
For Alisha Rees, this year’s British Champs being scheduled for Birmingham – rather than Manchester – may feel like karma.
*Alisha holds the Scottish Women’s National Record for 100m at 11.30 seconds and the Indoor Women’s National Record for 60m at 7.27 seconds.
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Tags: Alisha Rees, Features, Loughborough International, Scotland
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