Philippa Bowden

Philippa "Phily" Bowden (born March 29, 1995) is a British long-distance runner.

Early life and education Bowden studied psychology at Brunel University of London, where she was a sports scholar. She began but did not complete a master's program at the University of Oregon. Bowden recovered from anorexia prior to beginning at the University of Oregon, but the weight-focused culture of the athletics program, which Bowden has since publicly criticized, caused her to relapse.

Career

Early career and university (2013–⁠2019) Bowden competed for the Bracknell Athletics Club. She won silver in the 2014 Berkshire Cross Country Championships women's under 20 race.

She then competed for Brunel University's athletics team. As a junior, she placed in the top 100 and generally considered herself 'average.' She won her first three races in the LUCA Cross-Country league in 2017. She competed at the U23 European Championships, placing 13th at the 2017 Euro Cross in Slovakia and was part of the gold medal-winning Great Britain and Northern Ireland team. She won silver in the 5,000 m at the 2018 BUCS Athletics Championships, with a time of 16:18.77. She pivoted to marathon running and made her marathon debut in 2022 in Seville with a time of 2:34:30.

She set a personal best of 2:29:14 at the Houston Marathon in 2024. While in the United States in the final block of training for the Houston Marathon, Bowden met Jon Green, the head coach at Verde Track Club. She left Team New Balance Manchester, and announced in July 2024 that she had signed with On Running. Alongside this change, she began being coached by Green.

Bowden placed 15th in the women's competition at the 2024 Berlin Marathon, running a new personal best of 2:25:47, ranking her ninth on the UK all-time list.

Bowden's next professional goal is to be on Team Great Britain in the 2028 LA Olympics.

Personal life Bowden returned to the United Kingdom in 2019.