BY the time Gael Force One had transported the SNP's merry band of rabble--rousers south on Monday, one Scot was already ensconced within Westminster, fleet of foot and filled with aspiration.
For the past year, Zara Asante has been combining the final year of her law degree at Brunel with a part-time role in the office of Labour MP for Tottenham David Lammy. Once graduation is done, it will become a paid position, potentially close to the epicentre of his London Mayoral campaign.
"I want to go into politics and slowly but surely rule the world," the 23-year-old says. "People laugh when I say that but I'm serious."
One conquest would suffice for most. The Glasgow native, who already organises a youth mentoring scheme, has ambition to burn. In Loughborough today, she will open a summer triple jump campaign that she trusts will see progress in leaps and bounds. And provide a route that might spirit her away from the Commons to take a seat among the lords of athletics at Rio 2016.
Spare time, you sense, is in short supply, but she would not have it any other way.
"Going to university while also working has been hard," Asante says. "And then, you throw athletics on top of it.
"I still want to do a Masters. But I want to take a year out and slowly usurp Ban Ki-moon, transform the UN into something more powerful, take away the Security Council because they've got too much power - but give it to myself. And then make the world a better place for children. That's the aim. Or I could become an MSP."
Watch out Nicola. Or Dave. Then again, the will to climb furthest and fastest until the top of the ladder is reached is a transferable skill. And she believes there is still potential untapped in her jumping odyssey, having cleared 13 metres for the first time in securing bronze in February's UK Indoor Championships.
It is a testament, she says, to the ecosystem implanted at Glasgow's School of Sport where former Scottish champion David Watson is nurturing talent.
"We've got amazing youngsters coming through who are ahead of where I was at that stage," Asante says. "I think I've got a few years ahead but as soon as they are older, I'll maybe just retire."
One of her careers is already being consigned to the past. Travel- ling to London at the age of 14, Asante was strolling along, soaking up the sights when a chance encounter sent her head into a spin. A scout for a major modelling agency noticed her in the crowd and handed over a business card.
"I was like: 'I don't know what to do with this'. My parents told me I was finishing school. But I picked up a few modelling jobs at the weekends and occasionally they'd let me take random days off school. Then the minute I was 18, I took off for London and just went for it.
"I'd get gigs for the likes of Louis Vuitton, Armani and Calvin Klein as well as coming back to Scotland to do things. The last one I had was in November where I was out posing on some rocks. I nearly died with the cold. It was freezing. I've decided not to do it full-time any more. But I still love it, that whole image thing."
It was an adventure that took her to places exotic and unknown. Back where her family now reside, near Falkirk, there was pride but also gentle persuasion.
"I've got typical African parents," she laughs. "It doesn't matter how much you're being paid to walk down a catwalk, they want to know when you're going to university."
The vow was made and kept. But Asante felt a calling back to athletics, a sport she had excelled in during her school days.
"I'd never trained for it when I was younger but I always did well at it. So I thought: 'there must be some talent in there'."
How much remains unclear. Amid established performers such as Lynsey Sharp, Chris Bennett and David Smith, Scotland's team at Loughborough will include a flurry of the young and unproven for a match that also includes the hosts, as well as rosters representing England, Wales and Great Britain Under-20s.
After switching coaches last year, Asante is determined to be first past the post in her own sporting ballot. And she will embark on a little canvassing to secure the backing required to further her cause.
"I'll send the letters out and we'll see. Every little helps," she says. "The more time I can devote to athletics the better. If I can get the funds, maybe I'll be the one getting gold."
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