The furnishings have been installed and the décor amended but Eilidh Child and her new apartment in Somerset remain estranged.

"It's starting to feel like home," the European hurdles champion declares. "But I've only been here for seven or eight nights in total. I'd like to get a longer spell in it."

Spells back in her native Perthshire have been punctuated by a prolonged training camp in Barcelona, and now, this weekend, with a trip to the Bahamas for the IAAF World Relays. "It all sounds very glamorous but it really isn't," she adds. Perception, as ever, is everything.

Certainly, the second edition of the baton-passing showpiece will feel less like an early-season jolly than the first. It has been employed as a qualifying route for next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, one reason why Usain Bolt is among an upgraded cast list set to perform. Minus Christine Ohuruogu, Great Britain & Northern Ireland will hope to secure their 4x400m berth in Rio with the Scot, now 28, emerging as the leader of this pack. How time flies, she proclaims.

"Nobody's place is safe because there are so many people coming in and out. But, hopefully, that means we'll run quickly because everyone wants to end up in the final quartet."

Having skipped the indoor season to regroup and recuperate following a glorious 2014 campaign, Child's readiness is unknown, even to herself. The principal target remains August's world championships in Beijing and the opportunity to provide an even greater threat to her rivals Kaliese Spencer and Zuzana Hejnova.

The experienced coach, Malcolm Arnold, has cautioned against radical surgery to her approach, she confirms. "It's been a case of: 'if it's not broke, don't fix it.' Malcolm and I have been building on what was there before - but looking for a little bit more speed, trying to get a little stronger. Moving the target times a bit faster. Pushing the intensity up a bit more. But there's been no huge change.

"Rather than saying: 'how can I beat her?' it's been 'how can I get better?' Fingers crossed, I can be closer to them."

The proof will start to unfold when her hurdles campaign commences in Ostrava later this month. Two days in Nassau will provide hints, but no more. Nothing will heighten the senses like the cut and thrust of competition.

No longer will Child have to fight to secure the schedule she covets. Track and field has its pecking order. Landing a continental title has elevated the one-time PE teacher onto the speed dial of race promoters seeking the very best on show. Anonymity, for good or bad, has been ceded in the process.

That suits the UK champion just fine. "I don't want to be someone who is just there to make up the numbers. I remember the first Diamond League I did last year was in Doha and I got Lane 7. Then I finished third and, all of a sudden, I started to get Lane 5 or 4. Even stuff like that, it shows you're getting credit and that's what comes with it. You want that attention on you."

- Scots duo Mark Dry and Derek Hawkins hopes of making Rio 2016 have been hit after UK Athletics unveiled ultra-tough qualifying standards - with the hammer at 78 metres and the marathon cut to 2 hours 14, faster than the IAAF's mark.