Elspeth Curran goes from school of hard knocks to earn GB vest

Much of the furore in England about the potential dissolution of the lauded School Sports Partnerships has centred on the benefits derived by local clubs. The long-neglected links between playground games and the organised structure of sport have, advocates argue, undergone sizeable repair. Any rupture, they claim, could make the process of spotting and retaining promising talent all the harder.

There are parallels n Scotland, yet in the case of Elspeth Curran, the system - in her native Renfrewshire at least - was not entirely laid to waste. "There were after-school athletics and that was good in introducing me to it," she recalls. "Once a week, I'd go to races and do quite well. You'd see the Kilbarchan coaches coming along. They'd see who was doing well and come up and say: 'you should come down to the club'. When I finally did, I loved it."

She still does. Now 23, and a dentistry student at Glasgow University, Curran will make her Great Britain international debut in today's European Cross-Country Championships in the Portuguese city of Albufeira. That Derek Hawkins, her contemporary at both club and college, will do likewise is a source of pride to both. "I'm happy we've made it together," she states. "It's nice for the club."

Despite becoming the Scottish champion this year in both 4km cross-country and track 3000m, Curran sensed that it was time to raise the stakes. "I felt I'd made a step forward but I thought: 'how can I move it on from here?' I knew the Europeans were coming up so I aimed towards this. This GB vest has given me a lot of confidence. I was 12th in the trials at senior level so it's reassuring that I can compete with them as well as people of my own age."