Hampden Park is out of the blocks for the Commonwealth Games with fewer than 50 days to go, after work was completed to transform the home of football into a world-class athletics arena.

The national stadium has been temporarily fitted out with an athletics track, turning it into centrepiece of the Glasgow 2014 Games, which begin on July 23.

Yesterday the huge amount of effort that has gone into the project was unveiled for the first time, with Olympic steeplechaser and Team Scotland athlete Eilish McColgan launching the new-look stadium with a group of youngsters who ran part of the 100m section of the track.

Organisers are hoping stars will now write their own slice of history into the stadium's brief life as an athletics venue.

England's double London 2012 gold medal winning long-distance runner Mo Farah has already said he will compete at Glasgow 2014, with 100m and 200m Olympic champion Jamaica's Usain Bolt "95 per cent" certain he will be there.

The new-look arena will see more than 1,000 athletes battle for gold in nearly 50 events staged over seven days.

Games organisers said months of construction were required to prepare the football stadium for a different kind of sporting action at next month's spectacle.

The stadium's surface was raised almost six feet, giving it the width and length required for an athletics track of the required standard. Eight rows of seats had to be removed to accommodate the track.

An infield, complete with freshly-cut grass, sits on a temporary deck made up of 1,000 base panels supported by in excess of 6,000 steel stilts.

Glasgow 2014 chief executive David Grevemberg said: "The spectacular transformation of Hampden Park from iconic football stadium to world-class athletics venue is an achievement of which Glasgow and Scotland can be justifiably proud.

"This is a world-first solution in a great venue, creating an excellent sporting field of play and we can't wait for the elite athletes of the Commonwealth to come and experience the thrill of competing here.

"The completion of Hampden marks a very special moment in our journey to the starting line of what will be the biggest and best sporting festival Scotland has ever hosted."

The stadium will accommodate a crowd of more than 40,000 athletics fans while organisers expect the Games to be watched by a worldwide TV audience of more than one billion.

Olympic steeplechaser and Team Scotland athlete Eilish McColgan, the daughter of former 10,000m world champion Liz McColgan, said: "There's less than 50 days to go until Glasgow 2014 and standing here in Hampden definitely makes it seem real.

"The transformation is amazing and I think the reaction of a lot of the athletes will simply be 'wow'.

"My mum has told me all about the unbelievable atmosphere and overwhelming support of the crowd when she competed and won gold in front of a home crowd at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, and I know that's a stand-out memory of all her races throughout the years.

"I'm just so excited at the prospect of competing in a home Games and she's told me the support I'll have from the Scottish crowd as a Scottish athlete will be on another level.

"Having the 'Hampden Roar' behind me as I push down the home straight will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

Michael Cavanagh, chairman of Commonwealth Games Scotland, said: "It is hugely exciting to get the spectacular change of Scotland's National Stadium complete in such good time for the Games. Hampden, with its bold, innovative transformation to an Athletics venue is truly amazing and I know all our track and field athletes will be thrilled to step out into this magnificent athletics arena filled with home support."

Commonwealth Games and sports minister Shona Robison said: "This is truly fantastic and another excellent example of how ready we are for these games.

"I am also very pleased that there is work ongoing to ensure that the running tracks will be relocated after the games, providing a valuable legacy and, hopefully, encouraging many more future Scottish athletes."

Councillor Archie Graham, Executive Member for the Commonwealth Games, said it was fantastic to see the work finished. He added: "Hampden has of course been a world-famous arena for many decades, and the home of countless memorable sporting occasions. We can now look forward to the creation of more Hampden legends this summer when the world's best athletes come to Glasgow."