Commonwealth gold medalist Eilish McColgan shared the inside track on a stunning summer of success at special events organised as part of our sponsorship of this elite athlete. We are proud to have supported Eilish for almost a decade – since November 2013.
The three-times Olympian had guests captivated as she spoke about a remarkable year which has seen her break records as well as taking gold and silver at the Commonwealth Games and a medal double at the European Championships.
We hosted two events for our clients and contacts this week (27 October 2022), in Dundee and Edinburgh. They saw questions put to Eilish by Ian Beattie MBE, who is chairman of UK Athletics as well as being our Chief Operating Officer.
The events also saw Eilish highlight the work of Giving Back to Track, a not-for-profit initiative she and partner Michael Rimmer - himself a three-time Olympian - have launched to lift the financial barriers for children to get into athletics. Lindsays is also delighted to be one of its supporters and we were pleased to help raise the profile of its mission this week.
The work of this new project - including supporting an after-school club at Balgarthno Campus which Eilish visited on Tuesday - has started in her home city of Dundee. Eilish has announced this week that she hopes to expand this to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
Guests at our event at Malmaison in Dundee on Tuesday evening included pupils from The High School of Dundee - Eilish’s former school - as well as young members of her athletics club, Dundee Hawkhill Harriers. Audience members at both events (we hosted our event in Edinburgh on Wednesday evening), who were welcomed by our Managing Partner Alasdair Cummings, had the chance to ask her questions.
Ian Beattie said afterwards: “People across the nation have been gripped by Eilish’s success, particularly this season. Like athletics fans throughout the country, everyone at Lindsays has been cheering her on and can’t wait to see what comes next.
“It’s clear that her achievements are inspiring others. It’s tremendous to see Eilish embrace the power of that to open opportunities for children to become involved in athletics. As a firm, we’re pleased to be able to play a small part in supporting her to do that.”
On her Giving Back to Track initiative, Eilish said: “Thanks to my team-mates at the Hawks and supporters including Lindsays, I really hope that we can create some great opportunities for people who might otherwise not have had the chance to try athletics.”
