Local Heroes: Reed hammers UK record

Capital hammer thrower Kimberley Reed (Edinburgh AC) smashed the UK Under-17 women's hammer record by 54cm and added over two metres to her own Scottish record with a mighty heave of 55.98m to win the Scottish Schools title at Grangemouth yesterday.

Her exams behind her, the Drummond Community High pupil, whose previous best was 53.63m, had another throw over 54 metres yesterday which also exceeded the World Youth Championships qualifying standard (53.00m).

Meanwhile, West Linton's Chris O'Hare (Tulsa) will line up in tonight's 1500 metres final of the American National Collegiate Championships at Drake University in Iowa seeking to emulate his silver medal in the NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this year.

O'Hare, at 20 the youngest in the field, finished third in his semi-final and the third fastest qualifier overall in 3:43.03.

There was disappointment for his former Edinburgh AC teammate Kris Gauson (Butler), who had been struggling all week with the effects of food poisoning and failed to finish in the same semi-final.

But the determined O'Hare, whose younger sister Olivia won the Scottish Schools 1500 metres title at Grangemouth yesterday in a personal best of 4:42.0, knows full well that he has still much to do to secure a podium place in tonight's final.