Relief was the overriding emotion for athlete Joe Reid ahead of his departure to Australia for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games.

The 800 metre runner was previously overlooked for selection for Team Isle of Man in Gold Coast, despite meeting the consideration criteria several times over the past year.

But, after a lengthy process involving appeals and talks with the Isle of Man Commonwealth Games Association, the Port St Mary athlete was added to the Manx roster and departed the island on Monday afternoon with several other members of the team ahead of a long journey Down Under.

Reid admitted it has been a rollercoaster over the past few months, but that he was now simply raring to go and wanting to pay people back for their support. ’I’m very relieved. It was a bit of a rollercoaster over Christmas - obviously with all the hard work that I’ve done over the last four years, I was just so glad to be told I’d have the opportunity to go.

’The support I had was brilliant. Just the amount of people that were saying nice things, like: "Your hard work deserves you to be there. We want you to be there because there are so many young kids down the track that need role models to look up to - people to look to and see if they work hard they can go do that as well."

’With Joe [Harris] and Erika [Kelly] going, we had the field events and the walks covered and we didn’t have a track athlete, so I think it was important to get that third spot so that we could have all areas represented.’

The Island Games medalist goes into the Commonwealth Games on the back of an impressive performance at the recent British Indoor Athletics Championships in Birmingham where he competed alongside fellow Gold Coast team-mate Erika Kelly.

Having set a new Manx record in the qualifying heats, Reid ran a strong race in the 800m final and crossed the line sixth.

’The Indoors went really well,’ explained Joe. ’I made the British final over 800m in Birmingham and then had a good run out over 600m a few weeks ago, so training has been going really well - everything has just been consistent.

’Once we get out there and into the heat, I think I’ll be able to put together some big sessions that will really get me ready for the big day.

’The main hope from me for these Games is just to draw on the experience of it. It’s going to be my first senior international and I want to be at more of these over the years to come, so hopefully I can use this experience to get used to being on this stage.

’From a performance point of view, if I can make the semi-final then that will be brilliant - the 800m is going to be one of the most competitive events there and these guys are going to be the best in the world that I’m racing against so for me to make a semi, on a personal note, would be brilliant.’

So is the talented athlete already looking ahead to the next Commonwealth Games which are set to be held in Birmingham in 2022?

’Definitely. That was one of the reasons why I wanted to come to this one because Birmingham represents an opportunity where in four years’ time I’ll be an established 800m runner by then.

’I’ll be hoping to say, when people ask me these same questions, that instead of saying I want to get to the semi-finals, I’ll be saying I want to win medals there.

’Therefore, Birmingham is already something I’m really looking forward to and I’m definitely going to use Gold Coast as something to get ready for that.’

Those sentiments were echoed by Steve Partington, the athletics team manager, who commented: ’It’ll be a home games. It’s great to go to Australia but it’s nothing like a big local crowd with people you know in it.’

Erika Kelly also commented: ’I’m hoping to get out there and just do my best. It’s my first ever experience on a big stage - everyone else is a lot more experienced - so I just want to enjoy it more than anything and see what I can do.’