McColgan Wins Third Big Half Title on Return From Broken Foot; Weir Smashes Course Record

Eilish McColgan won her third London Big Half title on 6 September 2026, just five months after a fractured foot had forced her off the roads entirely. The Scottish runner, who also won the event in 2022 and 2024, returned to the front of a race she has made her own across the last five years.

McColgan is the British half-marathon record-holder with a best of 65:43 — the fastest time any woman from these islands has run for the distance Athletics Weekly. Earlier in 2026 she had finished seventh overall at April's London Marathon in 2:24:51, the first British woman across the line. The Big Half, which winds through the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Lewisham and Greenwich, served as her comeback test after the fracture interrupted the summer. She passed it BBC Sport.

The men's race brought its own drama. Kadar Omar Abdullahi of Birchfield Harriers crossed the line in 1:01:51, winning by 14 seconds ahead of Jack Rowe. Rowe was chasing a record fourth consecutive Big Half victory. He leaves with second place instead BBC Sport.

David Weir, racing in the men's wheelchair event, broke his own course record by 45 seconds to win in 46:13. That is a remarkable number on its own. It becomes more so when you consider that Weir is 47 years old and retired from Paralympic competition in 2024. He has now won this race five times in its nine-year history BBC Sport.

Eden Rainbow Cooper defended her title in the women's wheelchair race, clocking 52:47 to make it back-to-back Big Half wins BBC Sport.

What makes this edition stand out is the range of comebacks and milestones packed into a single morning. McColgan's return from a fractured foot to a race win inside five months asks serious questions about what she might do over a full autumn marathon build. Weir, at 47 and two years clear of Paralympic racing, is not just turning up. He is lowering records he set himself.

For Rowe, the frustration will cut deep — a fourth straight win was there to be taken, and Abdullahi simply ran faster. But Birchfield Harriers have a new name on the Big Half roll of honour, and the depth of British men's road racing looks the better for it.