Friday 21 August 2015

Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Jessica Ennis-Hill set to compete in Beijing

Britain's hepathlon champions will be giving it both barrels when they go head-to-head in te World Athletics Championships in Beijing - the heptathlon 100 metre hurdles will be the opening event.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Jessica Ennis-Hill at this year's Great City Games in Manchester.

There will be realistic medal hopes for Great Britain - the colour and distribution will also be affected by Canada's Brianne Theisen-Eaton who has been on good form this year.

Katarina also has a good shot at the long jump in which she has excelled again this year.

Thursday 20 August 2015

Stuart Bingham - Snooker's new world champion coming to terms with his win

Four months after beating Shaun Murphy 18-15 to become the Snooker World Champion, Stuart Bingham who started the tournament as a 50-1 outsider, is coming to terms with what this means.

All of the long hours and travel mileage of the many years of his career came to a fruition in early May 2015 as he put aside any tag of being a 'journeyman' and with that broad grin which came with the win, accepted his position at the top of the pile.

Stuart Bingham holds aloft the World Snooker Championship trophy, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, May 2015

His intention is to continue to enter many events on the tour as "...it is a numbers game...your number might come up once or twice..."  He is on the lookout now to add the UK Championship or the Masters to the trophy cabinet.

We all look forward to seeing him back at the Crucible next April.

Cilla Black funeral - Cliff Richard to sing

Cliff Richard is due to sing today at the funeral mass for Cilla Black at St Mary's Roman Catholic church, Woolton.

Cliff Richard, Bramall Lane Sheffield, 1985

TV stars Paul O'Grady, Jimmy Tarbuck and Christopher Biggins will join her sons Ben and Robert in giving readings.

Tuesday 18 August 2015

Congratulations to Seb Coe - the new president of the International Association of Athletics Federations

Seb Coe, the current vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) will succeed current incumbent Lamine Diack at the end of the month.  The announcement came just before the start of the World Athletics Championships in Beijing.

Seb Coe, Olympic Torch Relay, Sheffield, June 2012

The 58 year old polled 115 votes to the 92 cast for Ukrainian ex-pole vaulter Sergey Bubka.

He takes the helm at a time when the IAAF is facing mounting pressure over recent doping claims.  However, he has been backed by sports stars such as double Olympic Champion Mo Farah and will look to "change athletics" by creating an independent anti-doping panel in his first 100 days in office.


All the best Lord Coe - you're welcome back in Sheffield any time.

Monday 17 August 2015

Surprise as Sainsbury's pulls out of British Athletics sponsor deal

Sainsbury's has cut short its four-year deal with British Athletics to sponsor the sport.  The large-scale deal was signed in 2013 and was due to run until 2017.

But an announcement came just days before the World Athletics Championships start in Beijing to say that a mid-point review had allowed the supermarket to end the deal early.
Jenny Meadows at this year's UK Indoor Championship, EIS Sheffield

The surprise to many will be the timing - we have only just had the third Anniversary Games in London, all of which were backed by Sainsbury's, and it was only last year that they had agreed to sponsor all of British Athletics major events.




Sunday 16 August 2015

Subway 5k Family Fun Run coming back to Sheffield

The Subway Helping Hearts Family 5k series returns to Endcliffe Park, Sheffield on Sunday 20th September.

As always, there will be plenty of entertertainment to keep the crowds amused and a picnic area at the end for everyone to enjoy their lunch.

Starters last year were local stars Nick Matthew, Ellie Faulkner and Mukhtar Mohammed



Find out more and enter at: http://heartresearch.org.uk/events/subwayfamily5k