Last updated 11:37, Tuesday, 21 October 2008

I am originally from Cheshire and my first school was St Gregory’s in Bollington. I didn’t really like it, I got bullied there.

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Party time: Libby with her grandparents Pauline and Alan Clegg, top, and with some of the village youngsters, above, at her homecoming party

I went there until I was nine and I changed to go to St Alban’s School in Macclesfield.

That’s about the time when my eye condition was diagnosed. It first got noticed when I couldn’t read the board at school and I was struggling to read.

I was taken to the opticians and they gave me glasses but that didn’t help so I ended up being taken to an eye hospital where it was finally diagnosed.

I had lots of appointments and so I had a lot of time off school.

Because they were aware of my eye condition at St Alban’s they put a series of things in place to help me. The first thing was a classroom assistant. She was called Mrs Harrison and she was really good, she looked after me until I left the school in year six, the end of primary school.

It was around the age of nine too that I joined Macclesfield Harriers. We did all sorts including cross-country.

The best thing about running for me is that it gets rid of the stress and anxiety. It was a good way of letting my emotions come out.

Socially too, I made a lot of friends.

In the classroom, Mrs Harrison would help find different types of equipment that would help me cope.

I had magnifiers and different pens.

I did a year in high school in Cheshire. It’s not there any more but it was Henbury High School. They had a base for extra support and the classroom assistants were really great.

I was quite stubborn then and I didn’t want to do things like Braille or typing classes because I had to do them in my own time like at lunchtime.

When I was first diagnosed until about the age of 12, I was really suffering. It was very hard to accept my condition.

I felt different from everyone else but I was able to talk to the classroom assistants.

It was around that time my family decided to move to Scotland and when I got up here I joined the Border Harriers athletics club.

Because of the push for integration in schools, my mum had to think very carefully about where we were going to live. If we were to live in Langholm, that is Dumfries and Galloway, and the council wouldn’t let me go to the blind school, I would go to a mainstream school with a base that would provide additional support.

Newcastleton was ideal because it is Scottish Borders and they allowed me to go to the Edinburgh Royal School for the Blind.

I did all six years in the Scottish system there – S1 to S6.

I must admit I didn’t like it very much at first. I was very upset that they’d thrown me into a school with people I thought were nothing like me. But that was wrong. I made some great friends.

I’ve got over the fact that I have a disability. The school has really helped build my confidence. I was also a boarder. You definitely get more out of being a residential pupil when you’re at a school like that.

I left in June after sitting exams. I got a C in my English Higher. I failed my biology but that’s no surprise.

The main teacher who meant a lot was Cari Mannion who was a deputy head there. She was really, really good.

Also Kathy Balfour, who is the mother of the Scottish swimmer Kirsty, was my maths teacher. It was absolutely brilliant to have her teaching me. She gave me emotional support too.

Sometimes I’d have a really bad day when I was almost falling asleep in class because I’d been training the night before. But she’d been through it with Kirsty and understood.

I used to try to skip the homework session after school. I was a bit naughty, because I was training every day after classes.

Some nights I’d have a gym session at 5.30pm that could last up to three hours. If it was a track session it wouldn’t start until 7pm but I’d use public transport and that would take an hour. It meant that after training I’d be getting back at 9pm and sitting down to homework.

The school has been very supportive of my athletics. They’ve given me the time off when I’ve needed it.

I turned to sprinting in 2005 and the last big medal I won was in 2006 when I was second in the World Senior Championships in Holland.

I’m now concentrating on my athletics full-time. It is my life, and I’m hoping for the gold in 2012.

You should follow your dreams. It is really hard work but keep at it. No-one can put you down for having the determination to do it.

Interview by Kelly Eve