Kevin Stewart sits in his Dundee home; it’s probably the first rest he’s taken all day. He asks us to picture a scene: it is a dreary day in Dundee, rain lashing, wind whistling.

Kevin is out on his road bike, just him and the stopwatch, wind blowing in his face, hardly going at 10mph. “You sometimes think,” he ponders, “‘why don’t I just turn around and go home?’”

Thankfully, Stewart didn’t turn around on that occasion; indeed he very rarely turns his back on a training session. The 17-year-old spends all of his free time on a bike, be it in his bedroom on a turbo trainer, on the road, or on the track, all of his concentration goes into knocking fractions of seconds off the clock.

Early in the interview, Stewart’s mum, Caroline, enters the room. We are taking about Chris Hoy, one of Kevin’s inspirations on the bike. “He even looks a bit like Hoy doesn’t he?” His mum comments playfully.

Stewart’s muscle-bound upper body and powerful legs match that of his fellow Scottish sprint cyclist. He has the blond hair to boot. Stewart stifles a smile “I still don’t see it,” he states.

Sitting down with In The Winning Zone, Stewart reveals his reasoning behind his gruelling training regime, his aims for the future, and how he is hoping to emulate the successes of Scotland’s greatest ever Olympian on the track.

Stewart’s sporting career didn’t specifically start on the track. As with many athletes, Stewart meandered into track racing through another sport. He began swimming as a youngster and was introduced to triathlon by his dad, a former Scottish international triathlete.

“Through triathlon I got into cycling, that was always my best part of triathlon. My swimming was OK and I always used to be first after the bike but after the run I would be near the back of the bunch” He laughed.

Stewart was lucky that as his interest in the sport grew, a local club, Discovery Junior Cycling Club, was created. Discovery Juniors, a club created to encourage youngsters to get involved in track cycling, got Stewart hooked.

Stewart spent a year finding his feet, practicing and getting himself up to a high enough level to compete in the sport. He recalls one specific training session at his local track at Caird Park, which stands out as an inspiration to reach the highest level.

“When I first started up doing training and mucking about on the bike, I was at a training session and Marco Librizzi was there doing flat-out efforts, he was absolutely flying at the time because he was getting ready for the Commonwealth Games in 2006. I thought to myself ‘It would be really good to go that fast”.

After a year of finding his feet on the track, Stewart decided to get involved in the competitive side of the sport. His first competitive meet brought a respectable outcome against older opponents. 15 at the time, he gained fourth position in the 16-and-under’s sprint category.

“After seeing Marco and competing at the Scottish Championships I said to myself ‘I want to be the fastest, I want to go faster than anyone else, That was the point when I started going for it.”

Two years on, Stewart is still going, pushing himself forward in every training session. Still in his final year of secondary school, Stewart manages to fit in a training session on a daily basis. He takes me back to the session he did the day before. That was a tough one.

The day started in the classroom, with lessons in the morning. He then went home, collected his road bike and went out on a four-hour ride, stopping only for lunch. He then took a short break before heading to Caird Park for two hours, where he placed his gears on a high setting, practicing standing starts, getting the strength up in his legs

That would be a tough session he says. Not unknown though, when he can’t go to the track or out on the road, Stewart jumps on a turbo-trainer set up in his house. He does intervals on the bike, going nowhere but over the pain barrier.

If he does half an hour, he is “collapsing by the end of it”. What gives him the drive to jump on the bike and go through the pain all over again? “It gets you faster, doesn’t it?”

It seems that Stewart will do anything it takes to get himself round the track faster than his previous attempt. At the level he is aiming for, Stewart admits that the facilities and competition can only be found south of the border.

“I spend a lot of time in the winter down in Manchester because we don’t have an indoor facility up here in Scotland. It’s usually every other weekend down in Manchester.”

“It’s tough sometimes but when we go down its usually the GB squad that are there. It’s always really good, it’s a really good atmosphere and you can get some quality training. It’s always worth it.”

Does he mind frequently making the journey to compete with the best? Not if it’s going to improve his performance and take him to the highest level. “Everyone is down there, top class facilities, top class coaching. That’s where you’re going to get faster.”

Stewart, who either trains or competes seven days a week, understands the sacrifices required to compete at the highest level. “It’s a lot of training you need to do. Some weeks the intensity and training can be really tough so you do need to sacrifice a lot of things like going out with friends or ice cream.” He laughs, “Ben and jerry’s is the toughest one! It’s got to be done though.”

When the up-and-coming cyclist comments on his goals, the jokes and laughs stop, however. Stewart is realistically aiming for the Commonwealth Games in two years time, “Hopefully I’ll go to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. If I can make qualification times I can maybe go to that, which is looking good just now.”

Although Stewart will still be a teenager when Delhi comes around, there is no question that he is in contention to fly the flag for Scotland in the Velodrome. David Hoy, father of Scotland’s triple Olympic champion, believes that Stewart, alongside two more young Scottish track-racing talents are capable of making an appearance at the next Commonwealth Games.

“I’m advocating that Kevin Stewart, Jamie Bremner and Callum Skinner represent Scotland in Delhi, I would have no problem in them forming the team sprint team.” Hoy told In The Winning Zone.

Next up for the teenager is a trial early this month, which will decide whether or not he is capable of joining the Olympic Development Program. If he succeeds and joins the program, he will have the opportunity to join the best young talent from throughout Britain in Manchester, training, racing and living for the sport he loves.

Last year, Stewart was honoured with accepting Chris Hoy’s sports personality of the year award at the Commonwealth Games Scotland dinner. He read out an acceptance speech on behalf of his fellow sprint cyclist. Nowadays, Stewart is emulating Hoy’s times on the track.  In fact he has recorded faster times than the Olympic champion did when he was 17, “And he’s not done too badly has he?” smiles Stewart.

Determination stands out in his voice when Stewart mentions his dream, the long-term goal that he hopes each gruelling training session will lead to.  “Olympic champion. That’s the one; I’ve got to get it.”

Stewart is next in line; there are no other sprint racers in Scotland between Hoy and Stewart. He may have similar looks and similar traits to Hoy on the track, but Stewart has his own story to tell. He won’t be the next Chris Hoy; he will be the first Kevin Stewart.

IC
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