A FAST-rising Ayrshire hammer thrower ultimately has her sets sight on competing in the next Olympic Games.

Rachel Hunter (23) from Ayr, a member of North Ayrshire Athletics Club has been involved in athletics for 10 years.

She competed in the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and ended up reaching the final of the hammer event, staged at National Stadium Hampden Park.

The nurse almost accidentally stumbled into the Shot Put and, starting to find success in the event she and her coach and dad Henry, decided to specialize in throwing events.

Rachel's first coach was Alan Pettigrew from NAAC who introduced her to hammer throwing. By 2012 she was enjoying great success and she had to change coach to ensure qualification for the Commonwealth Games.

Her then coach, Chris Black, himself an accomplished thrower, helped her to reach the qualifying distance for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

She competed in the Glasgow 2014 event and ended up reaching the final of the hammer at Hampden Park, finishing in a very creditable seventh position in a strong field.

Rachel, who is supported by Scottish Institute of Sport & Bene-fit Gym and is a Zeon Teamwear Ambassador has also now gained membership of the GB Squad and recently competed in Gran Canaria, with dad Henry back as her coach.

The 2017 summer season is the qualifying period for the Commonwealth Games in April 2018 in the Gold Coast in Australia, making it a very important one.

Her main short-term goal is to make Team Scotland for these games and put out a good performance at the Commonwealth Games next year.

In order to make the team Rachel is going to Germany to compete in June and her main competitions will be The Loughborough International in May and the British Championships in June. Long term her main goal is to aspire to reach the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The progress she has made this season suggests that isn't an unrealistic goal considering it is still three years away.

Clearly Rachel’s involvement with NAAC has been a great boost to the highly successful, multi award-winning team based in Saltcoats.

NAAC Chairman Blair Pettigrew said: "The club are delighted to have Rachel as a member, she is a fantastic role model for all the young athletes. Being a full internationalist with Commonwealth Games experience Rachel and her dad bring an amazing depth of knowledge to our volunteer coaches.

"We know Rachel could have picked any club in Scotland but we are delighted she chose NAAC and her close links and ties with the club make us feel she is part of the fabric of our history and we are all 100% behind her in her quest for future athletics success."