We have amazing news of one of the recent winners of the Rotary Club of Caterham’s Sporting Excellence Awards.
Sam Talbot who is a Caterham School pupil won the Club’s 2014 Award for Sporting Excellence, will be heading the British Athletics’ team in Salamanca, Spain on 20-21 February 2016 for the International Indoor Match Combined Event in the U23/U20 age group.
This follows an impressive display earlier in January 2016 at the England Indoor Combined Events Championships in Sheffield.
There Sam took the Under 20 men’s heptathlon title with 5510 points, the second best of all time by a British junior., and a lifetime best for him. The Exeter Harrier, is still only 16 – he turns 17 in February; he finished 21st in the decathlon at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia last year. In Sheffield he showed his maturing talent, with personal best performances (PBs) in each of the seven events of the heptathlon.
He will no doubt be excited too at the prospect of once again pulling on the British vest as he did at the World Youth Championships last year.
* On 12th January, British Athletics’ announced the teams for International Indoor Match Combined Events, the Senior in France at Reims, France on 30-31 January and U23/U20 in Salamanca, Spain on 20-21 February 2016
England Indoor Combined Events Senior/U20 Championships, EIS Arena, Sheffield – 9/10 January
Sam Talbot (Coach: Eldon Lake) produced a tour de force performance to take the Under 20 men’s heptathlon title with 5510 points, the second best of all time by a British junior. The Exeter Harrier, who finished 21st in the decathlon at the World Youth Championships in Cali last year, is still only 16 – he turns 17 next month – but showed his maturing talent with PBs in all seven events: 7.00 for 60m, 7.51m in the long jump, 12.62m in the shot and 3.82m in the pole vault on day one (for a running tally of 3031 points), followed by 8.05 in the 60m hurdles, 1.87m in the high jump and 2:44.60 in the 1000m on day two.
The multi-talented Sam eclipsed David Guest’s seven-year-old championship record score of 5372 points but Guest still holds the UK junior record with 5793 points.
Sam’s triumph was another notable success for his coach, Eldon Lake.
From Caterham Rotarian
Jon Mountain
