Can the sun propel Alyson to the fastest Scot?
Even on spring evenings, training indoors on the track buried within Edinburgh’s Meadowbank Stadium offers little insulation from the misery of a cold climate.
“It’s horrible,” Alyson Bell declared, only half in jest. “You really want to be out in the sun.”
Among the rewards for becoming the designated next big thing of British sprinting are wishes granted.
A training camp in Florida and, this week, a hefty dollop of Vitamin D from the clear warm skies of The Bahamas, where the 20-year-old is primed to make her senior international debut at the World Relays.
Olympic places are on the line for the UK’s high-speed quartets. Individual cases to be made too.
Last August’s World Championships in Budapest should have seen Bell wet her feet among the elite in the 4x100m relay line-up. The Glaswegian had been tabbed for a run in the heats until an untimely bug struck.
“It was so frustrating,” she admitted. But despite a regime change, she has been promoted onto UK Athletics world-class performance programme, fast tracked towards the top in every sense.
“To know that they have that trust in me enough to put me onto the programme and just take me to that next level has been great,” she said.
“The good thing about going to Budapest was just getting to know all the other girls and be around them. It means the next time I see them, I’m less of a stranger. I’m not having to introduce myself. They already know that I’m there.”
Improbably, the Scottish women’s 100m record set by Helen Golden in 1974 remained unbroken until it was lowered to 11.30 secs by Aberdonian Alisha Rees two summers ago.
It is still shy of the medal contending benchmarks regularly set by British duo Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita – both rested for the trip to Nassau in a move that opens up space for others to put their hands in the air.
“I almost want to race her in some way, just to see where that Scottish record can come down to,” she confirmed.
“You both want to have the name of fastest Scottish woman, which is insane.”
■ Megan Keith yesterday produced the fifth-fastest 5,000 metres in history by a British woman in Shanghai to tee up a double shot at this summer’s Olympics.
The 22-year-old Scot was eighth at the Diamond League meeting in a personal best of 14 mins 43.24 secs, eight seconds inside the UK’s qualifying standard for Paris 2024.
Keith threatened a stunning upset by leading for most of the race which was eventually won by Ethiopia’s Mekedes Alemeshete in a rankings leading time of 14:36.70.
But the reigning European Under23 champion clung on to rocket above Zola Budd and Laura Muir on the UK’s all-time list.
And with the 10,000m Olympic standard already under her belt ahead of next month’s trials in London, Keith admits she’s now given herself a massive opportunity.
“The Olympics has been on the list of targets but I couldn’t get too far of myself before I got the A standard,” the Highlander said.
“And now I’ve hit two. So I need to go and chat to my coach. I won’t get too excited until it happens.”