Athletics: Reed puts hammer down for Commonwealth glory

The 16-year-old went under the surgeon's knife recently to treat an ingrown toenail while she's also been bogged down by her Highers exams but such has her form been this season, Reed has already reached the qualifying distance for the Commonwealth Youth Games in September.

Also on the agenda for Reed, who set a new Under-17 national record of 53.63 metres at the Bank of Scotland Hammer Grand Prix in April, is the World Youth Championships in France next month prior to her trip to the Isle of Man. And even though Reed's operation, not to her mention her revision, has been weighing heavily on her mind, she's vowed to make a name for herself this summer.

"I finished my exams so I can really start the hard training now, the Highers are tough but that's all out of the way now, so I can concentrate on my hammer," said the Drummond Community High School pupil.

"The first event for me is the Scottish Schools which is really important. It will get me into the bigger events like the UK School Games and the Celtic Games and a lot of that stuff. But my main targets this year are the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Isle of Man and the World Youth Championships.

"If I get chosen to go to the World Youth Championships in France that would be great. It's for under-18s and I'm only 16 now. The World Youths are only every two years, so this is my last chance. This is a really important year because I have a lot of big competitions."

Despite her hectic schedule Reed joined treble-Olympic champions Sir Chris Hoy in Glasgow on Monday for the launch of Bank of Scotland National School Sport Week.And while Reed has put herself in pole position for the trip to the Commonwealth Youth Games she admits she can't afford to take her eye off the ball, especially after being forced to battle back to fitness recently.

"There is quite a bit of pressure because I've had surgery on my foot so that stopped me from training as hard as I could but I'm getting back into it now," added Reed, who is a member of the Bank of Scotland Local Heroes initiative that sees her awarded a grant of 1000. "It stopped me from doing any impact work.

"My fitness went right down but it's come back up again now. It's taken quite a lot of work to get back there.

"But I must keep going to get to the Isle of Man because there are six Scottish competitors going from all sports so it's a really difficult competition to get into. And so I've been doing a lot of competitions recently. It's important to see how far I'm throwing."

Bank of Scotland National School Sport Week, in partnership with sport scotland, uses London 2012 to inspire children to achieve a personal best in Olympic and Paralympic sports. To help your local school carry the Olympic Flame in the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, or to win tickets, visit: www.bankofscotland.co.uk/nationalschoolsportweek