Karen MacLeod grew up on
Skye. After leaving Skye she came late into athletics, at the age of 24 running in the
Bath Half Marathon to raise funds for cancer research, from which her father had died. MacLeod finished third behind
Sue Crehan in the 10,000 metres event at the
1985 WAAA Championships and took part in the world cross-country championships in
1985,
1986 and
1987. In 1987 she won the Scottish National cross-country Championship. MacLeod ran the 10,000m at the
1990 Commonwealth Games finishing 12th in a race won by compatriot
Liz McColgan. She then switched to the longer distance of marathon and enjoyed success in the early 1990s by winning the
Bordeaux Marathon,
Majorca Marathon and
Seville Marathon. In 1994 MacLeod represented Scotland in the
Commonwealth Games marathon in
Victoria, running a personal best of 2:33:16 finishing fourth and less than a minute behind
Yvonne Danson. She was selected for the
1996 Summer Olympics in
Atlanta, with
Liz McColgan and
Suzanne Rigg, finishing 45th in a time of 2:42:08, despite at 38 years being one of the oldest in the field. MacLeod became an athletics coach, coaching the
Skye runner Hugh Campbell. In 2008, MacLeod revealed that she was suffering from
Berger's disease, an acute kidney problem, and had to undergo emergency dialysis, eventually she had to receive a kidney transplant from her sister Deborah. She died on 8 June 2021, at the age of 63. ==Competition record==