After placing seventh at the London Marathon back in April, the British half-marathon record-holder will take on 13.1 mile Big Half course in the British capital.

Eilish McColgan, who holds the British half-marathon record, will compete for the first time in five months at this Sunday's Big Half (September 6).

The 35-year-old distance runner last raced at April's London Marathon, finishing seventh overall with 2:24:51, a mark that was 26 seconds outside her Scottish record of 2:24:25.

McColgan was the fastest British female athlete in the elite field but suffered a toe injury, battling through blood and blisters to finish the marathon.

Running the second half of the race entirely on her own, McColgan noticed blood on her right shoe and told the world's media afterwards that it was like "my foot exploded".

The 2022 Commonwealth 10,000m champion stated: "It panicked me a little bit and from then on I was running funny – I couldn’t really put pressure on my foot so I began to hurt in other areas as well.

"I got to 24 miles and my knee started playing up and almost went on me,” she added. “I was like: ‘I can’t get to 24 miles and not finish’. I don’t know why my foot decided to be indifferent today. I was covered in blood. I had to go and see the doctor after my race because I couldn’t put any pressure through my foot. I took my sock off and the skin just fell out."

After seeing specialists, McColgan then found out she had suffered from an undetected foot fracture and, despite cautious optimism of competing in Glasgow, pulled out of the 10,000m at her home Commonwealth Games in July.

McColgan said that "the good news is I'm back running but "the bad news is I've simply run out of time to get myself, and my toe, back into spikes".

After some warm weather training in Dubai, she has spent the last couple of months training at altitude in Font-Romeu in the Pyrenees.

McColgan is the British half-marathon record-holder with 65:43 and will aim to regain the Big Half title she won two years ago.

Her biggest opposition could potentially come from reigning champion Jess Warner-Judd, who has a PB of 67:07 and beat Abbie Donnelly by 49 seconds at last season's edition.

Lily Partridge also returns to the event she won in 2020, and has PB of 1:09:52 over 13.1 miles.

Jack Rowe leads the elite field on the men's side and is aiming for a fourth consecutive Big Half title, which would beat Sir Mo Farah's record.

Currently ranked fifth on the UK half-marathon all-time list, Rowe goes into the event off the back of setting personal bests in the 5km, half-marathon and marathon this year.

At the London Marathon, Rowe placed 14th overall in 2:07:47, having already clocked 60:17 for 11th in New York City back in March. He then ran 13:37 over 5km in Battersea in July.

Phil Sesemann and Weynay Ghebresilasie will also be racing the Big Half. Sesemann, who secured a PB at this year's Berlin Half Marathon with 61:21, will go toe-to-toe with Ghebresilasie, who was the surprise of the British men’s field at the London Marathon, where he finished as third fastest Brit ahead of both Sesemann and Rowe.

Andy Butchart, the current Scottish record holder in the 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m, arrives in London after placing 13th in the 10,000m and 18th in the 5000m at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Watch out for Zak Mahamed as well, who will be making his debut at the Big Half following an impressive PB of 60:46 in Barcelona earlier this year.

The elite wheelchair fields will be headed by David Weir and Eden Rainbow-Cooper. Weir returns in pursuit of a fifth Big Half title, hoping to break his own course record of 46:58, which he set last year. Rainbow-Cooper has had an incredible season, culminating in victory at April's Boston Marathon.