Athlete Dean Patterson grew up idolising Usain Bolt, and wants to leave records crashing in his wake like his hero when he makes the step-up to senior athletics.
Dean, 16, from Ashgill, has been chipping away at the Scottish Under-17 200m record and is two hundredths of a second away from equalling Peter Little’s record of 21.24 set in 1977.
The teenager won gold at the School Games National Finals at Loughborough University earlier this month, in a time of 21.36, but recorded 21.26 at the recent Welsh International.
Dean hopes to smash that record and then make the step up to senior level, and emulate his hero.
He said: “It would mean the world. Just being the best, it would be an incredible feeling, and hopefully one day I can achieve that.
“Usain Bolt has been a big role model and everything he has done has just inspired me to try and be better than him one day – hopefully that will come.
“I used to watch him when I was seven or eight and my mum says I was always running about as a child.
“I started running at a club when I was nine and ever since then it has just been a full-on passion.
“I need to stay committed and hopefully it will come.”
Dean has enjoyed a good season, which has seen him represent Scotland and Great Britain at competitions, including the Under-18 European Championships in Jerusalem, where he returned with a bronze medal.
But he says there has been sacrifice.
Dean said: “I’ve had to be very dedicated, 100 per cent, not missing training or anything.
“I’m picking training over going out with friends and stuff.
“It been a good season, I’ve enjoyed it a lot.
“There has been a lot of new experiences, good experiences to have as I go on into the future.
“I was over in Jerusalem at my first major champs so it was good to gain all that experience.
“I got drug tested as well, so that’s another experience that’s good to have, so it’s not a shock.
“There was a lot of waiting around for the competition, which I didn’t expect, and there was quite a lot of having to wait in a hotel room.
“But it was good to learn how everything’s going to be when I get older and get more competitions that are out of the UK.
“It has been great just being part of the team and meeting new people.”
Dean closed his season with the four-day School Games National Finals and was impressed with the competition, which was led by children’s charity The Youth Sports Trust between September 1 and 4.
He said: “It was an unreal experience. It felt like everyone was part of a team.
“I met a lot of new people, and it’s a great competition for young athletes to get into and transfer to senior level.
“I know there were about 100 people who had been at the School Games then medalled in Birmingham at the Commonwealth Games, so that was good to see and shows you that it’s possible.”
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