Sammy Ball won gold at the recent England Athletics U20 Indoor Heptathlon at Sheffield. Sammy led the competition from start to finish in his second and final year in the U20 age group. Of particular note and satisfaction for Sammy was the 4.30m he attained in the Pole Vault which, if repeated outdoors would lead to a new club record. Sammy’s final score of 5,434 points was 646 points clear of the silver medalist and 168 points down on his own English record set twelve months earlier. After the competition Sammy rationalised the lower than some were expecting score by explaining that his sprint, his hurdles and his 1,000m were all completed at a more relaxed pace due to his ongoing rehabilitation work which he didn’t want to set back through an injury.

Also compting in Sheffield were Joe Frew in his first outing as a senior athlete at a national level competition and father and daughter duo Kevin and Hollie Cranmer.

Joe, now also a Loughborough Student, chose to compte in his Reading AC shirt and managed a personal best 3.20 m in the pole vault and a one second personal best in the 1,000m of 2:51.81 mins. Hollie, also in her first year as a senior athlete dipped upder 11 seconds for the first time in her 60m hurdles and also improved her shot put personal best by a massive 124 cms to achieve 8.16m. Kevin, who was silver medalist in the World v40 decathlon in 2022, was competing in the senior men’s age group meaning the hurdles are higher and the shot is heavier than his V40 age group, was close to his personal best in six of the seven events and was solid throughout, His 9.84 seconds in the 60m hurdles was his best performance for three years.

Well done to all athletes, all coached by Mike Dyer who was also in Sheffield for the weekend. Also in Shieffield as field referee for the weekend was Reading ACs Julie Dew and a big thank you to her and all officials for the time they give up to support the sport.