The Herald Interview

Black ice, miserable cold, rain, mist, and short, dark days ensure triathlon training in Scotland is only for the brave.

Kirsty McWilliam, Scotland's newly crowned world junior triathlon champ, has that badge of honour and the scars to endorse it, but at home in Milton of Campsie, her parents do what mums and dads do to make training a bit more comfortable when the weather was inclement.

They cleared space for a turbo trainer in front of the television in the living room. Kirsty would ride there for hours while watching videos.

"But that stopped when I accidentally melted the back tyre onto the sofa," said McWilliam. "I got chucked out into the garage after that. The sofa was unuseable. We've got a new one now.

"Lots of times you just can't train outdoors. Sometimes I'm doing three and a half hours on that turbo trainer. It's absolutely horrible, because you're not going anywhere, or seeing anything. So I get my TV out, and now I watch dvds while using the turbo in the garage."

Most of the time, however, it's into the wild. "I go up the Crow Road, and Tak Me Doon road at Kilsyth. There's a few good roads from home."

It has bred a love of hills and helped develop a mindset which leads her to attack on them. After adding world gold to European silver in Vancouver last month, she reckons having become inured to Scottish weather helped. McWilliam closed a 20-second gap after the swim, managed to bridge the gap on the bike, and then raced 39 seconds clear on the 5000m run. She was already carrying the union flag and a Saltire when she crossed the line, weeping tears of joy. "It was eight degrees and really miserable," she recalled. "Being from Scotland, I was used to it, but some of the others lost interest."

She is not easily deterred, despite some nasty crashes, "Mainly it's coming off in winter, on black ice, but I came off at the European Duathlon in Holyrood Park last year, quite nastily, because of diesel on the road. I got mild concussion. I was on the ground for about two minutes before I got up."

She lost the title by just seconds. "I was in the lead when I fell. I really think I'd have won if I hadn't come off."

Her recent development has not quite done enough to make her a Beijing contender, but McWilliam was the only young Scottish athlete invited to do a leg of the Olympic torch relay in London earlier this year. It has just whetted her appetite to be in the team for London in 2012. She's leaving Kilsyth Academy to study biology at Stirling University this autumn. "Triathlonscotland is based there, and hopefully we are going to get a bigger squad."

McWilliam swam from the age of three, and started competitively at seven. "But by the time I was 13, I wasn't enjoying it any more, stuck indoors for the whole weekend," she said. "I did some cross-country for my school, Craighead, and was quite good at that. A sports co-ordinator recommended I try an aquathon swimming and running and I won my first one, and got talent identified. Traithlonscotland picked me up.

"When I was about 11 I was third in the 50m backstroke at the Scottish Schools. After starting triathlon I've come on a lot. I won the Scottish Schools cross-country title this year."

Her 5000m leg, having come off the bike in Vancouver, was 16min 50sec, which suggests a track 5000m time of sub 16:25. That would have won the Scottish senior women's title 12 times in the last 13 years. Only Commonwealth champion Yvonne Murray, and Collette Fagan have ever run that fast.

All that on just three hours' running a week. Her coach, John Dargie, is aware of the talent she has, and is nurturing it slowly. "She is training around 20 hours a week in all," he says, "so there's lots of scope for improvement. A lot of the world elite are doing 30 hours or more, so haven't really the scope to improve."

Dargie was a founder of Glasgow Triathlon Club, and former national coach. "She walked across the track at Scotstoun four years ago, shook my hand, and asked me to coach her. She has a sparkle in her eye and a drive and determination that few people have. But one bike crash, one silly motorist, and it's all over . . ."

Though the world No.1 can pick up $10,000 per race, only a handful of women can make a living from triathlon. "I won around £3500 last year, but the sport cost me well over £5000. I'm dependent on my folks, and some lottery support."

For now. But go easy on the sofa.