Natasha Phillips reflects on European under-20 record in Valencia

The British athlete smashed her half-marathon personal best at the weekend, despite dealing with injury in the lead-up

Natasha Phillips had an impressive weekend at the Valencia Half Marathon on October 27, achieving a personal best and European under-20 record of 70:18.

At just 19 years old, her performance not only marked an improvement of over a minute from her previous best (71:19) but also placed her 19th in a competitive field.

The race was historic, with Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha setting a men’s world record of 57:40, while Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich claimed the second-fastest women’s time in history at 63:04.

World half-marathon record for Yomif Kejelcha in Valencia

Phillips, who runs for Dundee Hawkhill Harriers, has now positioned herself fourth on the Scottish senior half-marathon rankings, a list led by Eilish and Liz McColgan.

Eilish McColgan’s scholarship program, Giving Back to Track, has provided significant support to Phillips over the last few years.

Her success on the road has included winning the Great Scottish Run twice, once in 2023 and again this October, along with claiming the Scottish half-marathon title in Inverness.

Callum Hawkins and Natasha Phillips (Great Scottish Run)

Phillips has also made her mark in cross country. Earlier this year, she won her first under-20 title at the Scottish Cross Country Championships and finished third at the Inter-Counties Championships.

In March, she made her debut at the World Cross Country Championships in Serbia, where she represented Great Britain and finished 30th.

Remarkably, Phillips only began taking running seriously during the pandemic and decided to take up half marathons after struggling with iron deficiency.

With the announcement of the Commonwealth Games set to take place in Glasgow in 2026, and with no road races set to take place, she is eager to compete in the 10,000m in front of a home crowd.

Glasgow 2026 will stage track and field but no marathons

Here is our Q&A with Phillips below:

How did it feel to run a PB in Valencia?

I am over the moon with it. I was going into it targeting a personal best because I really wanted to get one at the Antrim Coast Half Marathon in August but the weather was just not on my side.

I came into Valencia a bit apprehensive because I had most of September off with a tendon injury and I had not run at all that month. I had just done the Great Scottish Run at the beginning of October and that was my first run where I felt good and not sore.

The Great Scottish Run gave me a bit of confidence going into Valencia, but I was not sure if I was in the right shape to run a personal best. I put that behind me and I thought of the summer months of really good training and that’s got to count for something. So I just believed in myself.

I wasn’t expecting to run such a big personal best of just over a minute. I thought maybe a few seconds would be nice or even just to dip under 71 minutes would be amazing but to go under was really exciting.

Natasha Phillips (Valencia Half)

How did your injury affect your training?

I wasn’t able to run for three weeks in September and I then spent a week building back up my mileage. I had about three to four weeks of my normal running mileage before Valencia, which was quite helpful.

It was good to have that buffer of three to four weeks beforehand because when I started running again I would get lots of blisters and my feet would hurt because they weren’t used to running.

What was the atmosphere like in Valencia?

I felt in awe that I was part of that race. To be able to say that you were running in a race that got the world record is amazing. There was hardly a part where there was nobody to cheer you on.

I remember running behind Clara Evans, who I kept up with for the first 3km, and I thought, ‘oh my god, I’m running behind an Olympian.’ It was amazing to have such a high calibre of athletes in a race, and to also witness the second fastest time ran by a woman in history.

How did you first get into running?

I was a competitive swimmer for the majority of my life up until just before the pandemic when I joined Dundee Hawkhill Harriers. I really enjoyed running at school, I would do cross countries and county sports so I thought I would join a running club, why not?

I did the cross countries for fun, I used to run in really old trail shoes that would weigh two kilograms because they would fill up with so much mud. But I didn’t care because I loved it.

During the pandemic running was the only way to keep my fitness up so I began running 5km’s. Once restrictions lifted I did an invitational cross country event organised by Scottish Athletics and from there I began to take it a bit more seriously.

Natasha Phillips (Bobby Gavin)

When did you decide to begin running half marathons?

It came from a period of me being really iron deficient about two years ago. I remember almost giving up because I just felt so terrible when I was running. I started taking iron supplements which made me feel a lot better, encouraging me to start doing long runs on a Sunday, around 17km or 18km, and I remember really enjoying them.

I still felt terrible, so I decided to enter a half marathon because I had nothing to lose. I entered one in Glasgow [MoRun] in 2022 and I ran 75:58, I was in complete shock. But unfortunately they didn’t have the correct license and my time wasn’t official so I was determined to enter another one.

I did another one [Run Newcastle Half Marathon] in February 2023 and the same thing happened, so I had to do a third one to get an official time. I ended up running the Scottish Half Marathon Championships in Inverness that year and ran 71:53.

It’s a series of events that were annoying but when you look back on it I’m really grateful for it to have happened because it’s what got me into doing lots of them.

What has it been like to get support from Eilish McColgan?

In 2022 I was awarded the travel and training scholarship which was amazing because a lot of those races I wouldn’t have been able to have done without her financial support. The following year I was given one of her main scholars which was really helpful as it allowed me to travel to a lot of competitions in England, such as trials.

It gave me a huge confidence boost to receive support off somebody like Eilish McColgan, and to know that she believed in me and she felt like the support was worth it. To be behind her on the Scottish all-time (half-marathon) list is amazing, I can’t believe it.

Natasha Phillips (Bobby Gavin / Scottish Athletics)

Will you be competing in cross country this season?

I’m actually not. I decided to concentrate more on the roads because the distances for under-20s are quite short in cross country. I would rather concentrate on what 10km races are coming up until the distances get a bit longer. When I move up to under-23 I will do them, but not so much this year.

I might do the Scottish Championships in February because it’s a while away. I have some races planned around that time so it depends on how well I can recover in between all of them.

What are your long-term goals?

It’ll be the 10,000m for the Commonwealth Games. Everything that I am doing just now is getting me ready for qualifying in 2026, which is really exciting and I can’t believe I’m saying that.

I’ll have to get used to running 25 laps on the track because I much prefer road over track. Track feels so alien because I didn’t start off as a runner and I didn’t do the graded meets at 10 or 11 years old. I never had that experience but it’s something I’m just going to have to work on.