ALISON Patrick won triathlon silver at the Rio Paralympics, but so strong is her desire to compete for Scotland that she is giving track cycling a go.

Patrick is visually impaired and will ride in the tandem discipline with pilot Helen Scott at this week’s Para-cycling Track Cycling World Championships in Los Angeles.

The event runs from tomorrow until Sunday and was confirmed with just seven weeks’ notice, so the entry list is light. Great Britain are sending six tandems, including Patrick and Scott.

Patrick said: “Triathlon is still my main aim. It was just I had a notion that I’d love to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.

“When I was younger I represented Scotland at a mountain running competition, but unless you do able-bodied sport there’s not that much opportunity.

“We did a bit of track cycling last year and my coach said we’ll see how we go.

“It’s completely different, mainly because I’m going from an endurance sport to a sprint discipline.”

Patrick is based in Scotland and is able to train with Scott only twice a week, but she is unfazed heading to California at short notice.

“It was always going to be a last-minute thing,” she said.

“It’s just meant we’ve had to rush learning the skills, because it is quite technical.

“I’m only going to keep improving until we go. I know in my heart I if I had a year, two years, I’d be in a better place, but that’s not what we’ve got. I can only do what I can do.”

Hazel Macleod, who pilots Lora Fachie in LA, could be Patrick’s pilot in Australia. Macleod is Patrick’s triathlon pilot.