July 31 is a special day of sporting history in the Rush household.

For TeamBath athlete Holly, Saturday will see her make her international debut when she lines up for Great Britain in the marathon at the European Championships.

That is significant enough for a runner who just five years ago started her marathon career by clocking 3hrs 05mins 34secs for 11th place in the London Marathon.

But in a strange quirk of fate Holly will competing exactly 18 years to the day that her husband and coach, Martin Rush, competed in the 20k road walk at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

"It is a real coincidence that I also competed on July 31 and finished 24th in the 20k walk," said Martin.

One difference in the intervening 18 years is that Holly won't have to endure the steep climb up Montjuic to the finish in the Olympic Stadium as the organisers have opted for a spectator-friendly four-lap city centre course.

But what won't have changed are the weather conditions, with temperatures of 30-35C expected for the 10.05am start and the likelihood that it will get hotter with each lap of the circuit.

"To help prepare for that we have been using the heat chamber at the University of Bath," added Martin.

"They have been very supportive and with the backing of UK Athletics we have trained there every other day to help Holly acclimatise to the heat. So far the results have been very good and the preparations have been on track."

Since qualifying through the London Marathon, in which the 32-year-old finished 23rd in the elite women's field in 2:37.56, Holly has focused on training and kept her races to a minimum.

But last month she won the Running Bath 5k in 17mins 24secs and was runner-up in the Poole 10k in 34:49 – her fastest time for three years.

So all the hard work has been done and this week it is about easing down, resting and concentrating the mind on the physical and mental challenge that lies ahead.

"Obviously we are trying to stay calm but there will be a lot of excitement and pride for Holly making her championship debut for her country," added Martin.

"It is something new and it will help raise her game. But when you consider she only started running properly five years ago what she has achieved is absolutely brilliant.

"And there is still an awful lot more that Holly can do because in terms of her 'training age' she is still quite young having been a late starter."