Track star Liz McColgan accused of beating up husband

The Dundee-born track star and mother of five stood in the dock at Arbroath Sheriff Court to deny charges of repeatedly punching her husband Peter, a former Irish athlete, on the head and body at the couple's Victorian home near Carnoustie.

McColgan, 47, also denied causing fear and alarm during the alleged incident on 12 July by throwing clothes down the stairs and out of a window. She is due to stand trial on 21 November.

McColgan and her husband, a former international steeplechaser, married in 1987 and have five children. They announced their separation last November but continued to live in the family home, which is also the base for their fitness club business.

McColgan appeared at Arbroath Sheriff Court yesterday morning before Sheriff Derek Pyle, wearing a black top and grey trousers.

She spoke only once during the brief hearing to confirm her name.

She was accused of repeatedly punching Peter McColgan on the head, punching him on the body and prodding him on the body to his injury on 12 July at the family home at Panbride House, near Carnoustie.

She also faced a further charge that, on the same date, she behaved in a threatening or abusive manner, by shouting and repeatedly throwing clothes down the stairs and throwing clothes out of a window.

Her lawyer, Gary McIlravey, said his client denied the charges. Mr McIlravey told the court: "My client appears on an undertaking. She pleads not guilty to the charges."

Sheriff Pyle set a trial diet for 21 November with an intermediate diet on 1 November. McColgan declined to comment as she left the courthouse alone.

Widely acknowledged as Scotland's best ever middle distance runner, McColgan became a household name when she won a gold medal in the 10,000 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 1986 and then took silver for Great Britain over the same distance at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

She retained her Commonwealth gold at the 1990 games and also won a gold medal in the 10,000 metres at the World Championships in Tokyo in 1991 .

The performance of the slightly built runner in the steamy heat of Tokyo was hailed by former athlete Brendan Foster as the "greatest-ever distance run" by a British athlete.Later the same year she won the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year trophy.

The former Liz Lynch was brought up in the Whifield area of Dundee and began her spectacular athletics career with Dundee Hawkhill Harriers.

After giving up her middle distance career she became an accomplished marathon and endurance athlete, winning the New York, Tokyo and London marathons.

She reluctantly called a halt to her running career in 2001 after suffering a series of stress fractures.

McColgan made a short lived comeback in 2004 when, at the age of 40, in 2004, she won the Scottish cross-country title.

In November 1990 she gave birth to her first child Eilish, who is now a promising steeple- chaser. The couple have four other children, Orla, aged five, Kieran, eight, Eamonn, ten, and Martin, 11.

McColgan and her estranged husband run a fitness club together, the Liz McColgan Health Club and Physiotherapy Centre, in the grounds of their home in Angus. But last November, the couple announced that, after 22 years of marriage, they were to divorce.

McColgan said at the time: "It is an amicable split and we are working things out for our children.

"We are both still living in the marital home while we work things out but we are a separated couple and plan to divorce. We have five children and we are still parents to them all."

The children come first and we are currently in the process of trying to sort things out for them. We are securing their futures."

She added: "I don't want to discuss whether there is anyone else involved - that is a private matter between us."