Local field athlete Kimberley Reed's sporting career goes from strength to strength. Here, father Scott Reed summarises the latest trials, tribulations and triumphs.
On 23 July, Kimberley helped Edinburgh Athletic Club to a fine win in the Scottish Young Athletes League final with a Championship record throw of 50.55m for which she was also awarded Athlete of the Match.
Then on 30 July she took part in the Scottish Under-18 Championships at Scotstoun, blowing away all opposition to win the hammer with a Championship record of 55.45m, her second best ever and also the second longest throw ever by an U-17 female in Britain. In the afternoon she won her first National Discus title with a throw of 34.57m. These two results meant that she was guaranteed selection for Scotland in both events at the Celtic games in Antrim. She also met Jedward, who were there as part of a UK Athletics promotion.[img_assist|nid=2051|title=|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=170|height=200]
The following day she returned to Scotstoun for the Scottish U-20 Championships. Unfortunately, she missed a good opportunity to defeat reigning Scottish champion Myra Perkins in the hammer, coming 2nd. If Kimberley had thrown the same distance as the previous day, she’d have won. Undaunted, she returned in the afternoon to win the U-20 discus with a throw of 33.60m.
On 13 August, Kimberley represented Scotland in her first full international fixture in the U-18 Celtic Games International versus Wales, Eire and Northern Ireland. She won the hammer easily with 6m to spare, throwing exactly 54m. In her less favoured discus event she finished 4th with a throw of 33.39m, narrowly missing bronze.[img_assist|nid=2052|title=|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=178|height=200]
Kimberley was also told last month that she will be one of only 9 track and field athletes to represent Scotland at the forthcoming Commonwealth Youth Games in the Isle of Man. She has an excellent chance of winning a medal there, and was invited along to a press conference in Stirling and interviewed by the BBC.
Kimberley now has a busy run-in to the end of the season, with four more competitions before she can take a well-earned break. Spurtle will keep you posted online about how she fares, but look out also for the printed edition in September (Issue 198) where further exciting developments will be announced.
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