The British athlete broke her personal best in the half marathon at the weekend, despite being injured in the lead.
Natasha Phillips had an impressive weekend at the Valencia Half Marathon on 27 October, achieving a personal best and European Under-20 record of 70:18.
At just 19 years old, his performance not only marked an improvement of over a minute from his previous best (71:19), but also placed him 19th in the field.
The race was historic, with Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha setting the men’s world record of 57:40 and Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich clocking the second-fastest time in history at 63:04.
Phillips, who bids for Dundee Hawkhill Harriers, is now fourth in the Scottish half marathon standings, led by Eilish and Liz McColgan.
Eilish McColgan’s scholarship program, Giving Back to Track, has provided significant support to Phillips over the past several years.
His success on the road includes winning the Great Scottish Run twice, once in 2023 and again this October, as well as winning the Scottish Half Marathon title in Inverness.
Calum Hawkins and Natasha Phillips (Great Scottish Run)
Phillips also made his mark in cross country. Earlier this year he won his first under-20 title at the Scottish Cross Country Championships and finished third in the cross country championships.
In March, he made his debut at the World Championships in Serbia, where he represented Great Britain and finished 30th.
Notably, Phillips only started running seriously during the pandemic and decided to run half marathons after battling an iron deficiency.
With the announcement of the Commonwealth Games scheduled for Glasgow in 2026, and without a road race to be held, she wants to compete in the 10,000m in front of a home crowd.
Below is our Q&A with Phillips.
How did it feel to lead the PB in Valencia?
I’m over the moon with it. I was going into it aiming for a personal best as I really wanted to get it at the Antrim Coast Half Marathon in August but the weather just wasn’t on my side.
I came to Valencia with a little apprehension because I spent most of September with a hamstring injury and didn’t run at all that month. In: had just done the Great Scottish Run at the beginning of October and it was my first run where I felt good and not sore.
The big Scottish run gave me a bit of confidence going into Valencia, but I wasn’t sure if I was in the right shape to achieve a personal best. i put that I and behind me was thinking about the summer months of really good training and that counts for something. So I just believed in myself.
I didn’t expect to run such a big personal best of over a minute. I thought maybe a few seconds would be nice, or even dropping under 71 minutes would be amazing, but it was really exciting to go under.
Natasha Phillips (Valencia half)
How has your injury affected your training?
In September I couldn’t run for three weeks and then I had a week building my run. I had about three or four weeks of my usual running time before Valencia, which was quite useful.
It was good to have that buffer three or four weeks ago because when I started running again I would get a lot of blisters and my feet would hurt because I wasn’t used to running.
What was the atmosphere like in Valencia?
I was horrified to be a part of that race. To be able to say you ran a world record race is amazing. There was hardly a part where you weren’t cheered on.
I remember running behind Clara Evans, who I was following for the first 3 kilometers, and I thought, “Oh my god, I’m running after an Olympian!” It was amazing to have such high caliber athletes in the race as well as to witness the second fastest time by a woman in history.
How did you first get into running?
I was a competitive swimmer for most of my life until the epidemic when I joined Dundee Hawkhill Harriers. I really enjoyed running at school, I would cross country and county sports so I thought I’d join a running club why not?
I did cross country for fun, I ran really old trail shoes that could weigh two kilograms because they will be filled with so much mud. But I didn’t care because I loved it.
Running was the only way to keep fit during the pandemic, so I started running 5km. After the restrictions were lifted, I got invited to a cross country event organized by Scottish Athletics and from there I started to take it a bit more seriously.
Natasha Phillips (Bobby Gavin)
When did you decide to start running half marathons?
It came from a time when I was really iron deficient about two years ago. I remember almost giving up because I felt so terrible when I was running. I started taking iron supplements, which made me feel much better, encouraging me to start a long run on Sunday, about 17km or 18km, and I remember really enjoying them.
I still felt terrible, so I decided to run a half marathon because I had nothing to lose. I entered one in Glasgow (MoRun) in 2022 and ran 75:58, I was in complete shock. But unfortunately they didn’t have the right license and my time wasn’t official so I was determined to enter another license.
I did another one (Run Newcastle Half Marathon) in February 2023 and the same thing happened so I had to do a third to get an official time. That year I ran the Scottish Half Marathon Championships in Inverness and ran 71:53.
It’s a series of events that were frustrating, but when you look back on it, I’m really grateful that it happened because that’s what made me do a lot of it.
What was it like to have support from Elish McColgan?
I was awarded a travel and training scholarship in 2022, which was amazing because many of those races I wouldn’t have been able to do without his financial support. The following year I was given one of his chief scholars which was really useful as it allowed me to travel around England to a lot of competitions such as trials.
It gave me a lot of confidence to have the support of someone like Eilish McColgan and to know that she believed in me and felt that the support was worth it. To be behind him on the all-time (half-marathon) list for Scotland is amazing, I can’t believe it.
Natasha Phillips (Bobby Gavin / Scottish Athletics)
Will you be competing in cross country this season?
I’m not really. I decided to focus more on the roads because the distances for the under 20s are quite short in cross country. I’d rather focus on 10km races until the distances get a little bigger. When I get to the under 23s I will do them but not as much this year.
I might do the Scottish Championships in February because it’s a while away. I have some races planned around then so it depends on how well I can recover between them all.
What are your long-term goals?
It will be the 10,000 meters of the Commonwealth Games. Everything I do right now prepares me For qualification in 2026, which is really exciting and I can’t believe I’m saying this.
I need to get used to running 25 laps on the treadmill because I much prefer the road to the track. Track feels so foreign because I didn’t start out as a runner and I did not is estimated to meet at age 10 or 11. I never had that experience bbut it’s something i just have to work on.
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