Legacy in action: How Glasgow 2014 brought Phillips twins into our sport

Friday 24th July 2026

What we do works: Scottish athletes on podium 11 times out of 12

Jamie Phillips made his entrance into our sport at the tender age of eight – when he and a couple of pals attended a ‘Come and Try Athletics’ event hosted by Kilmarnock Harriers.

It was midsummer some 12 years ago with Hampden being prepared for the Glasgow 2014 action as clubs sought to build on the impact of the Commonwealth Games.

Now at the age of 20, Jamie is our 800m selection for Team Scotland after a series of fine performances in America for Bradley University in Illinois.

That’s a Glasgow 2014 legacy right there – from keen kid to teenage wannabe to selected for Team Scotland.

Jamie tells us the back story in a new short documentary to add to our growing portfolio of YouTube-based content.

We’ve partnered with talented videographer Alex Popa of Cinescape Productions on this one and spent a marvellous evening at the Ayrshire Athletics Arena in Kilmarnock.

Jamie is joined on film by his twin, Jordan, who represented Scotland over 800m at the Loughborough International in May.

‘I was into a few sports like lots of kids and after running in some parkruns came along to Kilmarnock Harriers,’ recalled Jamie.

‘The club were holding a ‘Come and Try’ event at the Ayrshire Athletics Arena linked to the Commonwealth Games that year. Myself and two pals from school came along and I never looked back.’

Jordan, in fact, did attend ‘Come and Try Tri‘ at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Triathlon and dipped himself in the water of that sport at Strathclyde Park.

Sibling rivalry then began to take hold on the track . . .

‘At one stage we were becoming so competitive on reps that our first coach Billy (Roberton, still very much involved with Killie Harriers) and we didn’t train together for a few years,’ said Jordan.

‘We were very competitive. It became who was the strongest in a gym exercise, who was the fastest eating, who was the fastest walking to school,’ said Jamie.