Sir Cliff Richard police inquiry 'significantly expanded'

The inquiry into Sir Cliff Richard at Bramall Lane in 1985 has "increased significantly in size" according to South Yorkshire Police.

The original allegation was centred on his presence at Bramall Lane, Sheffield in 1985 at a Billy Graham rally.  The photo above (part of a series) is from a post-rally event and is available for media use via the Ross Parry Agency.

Sir Cliff maintains that he has no idea where the "absurd and untrue" allegations have come from.  "I have never, in my life, assaulted anyone and I remain confident that the truth will prevail.  I have co-operated fully with the police, and will, of course, continue to do so."

More action from the Birmingham Grand Prix

In a hectic 3 hours of competition, Olympic Champion Greg Rutherford won the Men's long jump with 8.17m - the best in the world this year and just 1cm short of the national record and (going by his form yesterday and just how far off the front of the board he took off from) there is a good year in store for him. It looks like he'll skip Prague next month to concentrate on the World Championships later on in the year.

This shot was taken by a remote camera, set up by the side of the long jump pit and trigger from over 60m away where I was at the end of the sprint straight.

Jenny Meadows is still number one in the world - winning the 800m in a time of 2:01.25

Nigel Levine continued his great start to the season by winning the 400m in 46.43 ahead of Jarryd Dunn (who also makes the plane to Prague) and loved every second of it:

Kim Collins won the 60m in 6.50 seconds ahead of Chijindu Ujah who finished second in 6.55 in a race which was disrupted by two false starts by Daniel Bailey (Antigua) and Michael Rodgers (USA):

Allan Smith was one of five athletes to clear 2.26m in a thrilling men’s high jump competition - winning the competition on countback as he was the only athlete to clear each height on the first attempt:

Lawrence Clarke came second in the men's 60m hurdles in 7.62 seconds, dipping over the line only just behind Kevin Craddock (USA):

Habiba Ghribi - Tunisia’s world and Olympic silver medallist - came good in the women's 3000m in a time of 8:46.61:

Axumawit Embaye (Ethiopia) seen here keeping tabs in an early lap, set a new all-comers record in the women’s mile in a time of 4:23.50:

Records again at the British Athletics Indoor Grand Prix

Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Liverpool, coach Mike Holmes) had another stunning weekend as she set a second British Record within a week.  Having set the British high jump record last week with 1.97m (and a PB in the 60m Hurdles), she won the long jump today at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix with a jump of 6.93m. 

In amongst other fine performances, Mo Farah set his first world record - the two-mile indoor - with a superb run where he left the field behind to storm home in a time of 8:03.40 seconds - breaking Kenenisa Bekele's previous record of 8:04.34

Nick Matthew claims a record seventh national squash title

Well done (again!) to Sheffield's Nick matthew on securing a record-breaking seventh national squash title with a dominant victory over Daryl Selby in Manchester yesterday.

Nick Matthew on his way to winning gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games

Before the weekend, Nick had shared the record of six victories with Cassie Jackman, but took the outright lead with a 11-5, 11-3, 11-2 win.  He claimed "To beat her record was a massive goal of mine and it makes me feel young again," 

All the best for 2015 Nick!

Action from Day 2 of the UK Indoor Athletics Championships

On another busy day of top athletics at the EIS, Sheffield Jenny Meadows won the 800 metres at the British Indoor Championships in Sheffield,  clocking 2 minutes 1.43 seconds for her seventh title at the event.

 

Laura Muir took 1500m gold in 4:13.06 seconds

Nigel Levine clocked 46.86 seconds to win the men's 400m title for a record fifth successive time and meet the European qualifying standard.

 

Tom Bosworth smashed his lifetime best to take victory in the Men’s 3,000m walk in a time of 11:30.35 seconds

 Luke Cutts and Adam Hague pushed each other on to take gold and silver in the Men's Pole Vault:

 

 Katarina Johnson-Thompson followed up her high jump record yesterday with a new PB in the 60m hurdles (a 34 point improvement)

and then rushed to congratulate winner Serita Solomon who took the title in 8.04secs.

 

 

Good performances again from local athletes Karla Drew and Kristie Edwards

 

Will need plenty of time this week to go through the rest of the photos.....

Top sports action on Day 1 of the UK Indoor Athletics Championships - KJT sets new high jump record

On an amazing first day at the EIS, Sheffield Katarina Johnson-Thompson set a new British high jump record as she defended her indoor title in Sheffield.   The 22-year-old heptathlete (Liverpool Harriers, Mike Holmes) cleared 1.97m and then attempted 2.0m.

Katarina  Johnson-Thompson clears 1.97m at the first attempt

 Morgan Lake clears 1.94m at the first attempt

 There was a strong field in the Women's High Jump to push her on to the new record - Morgan Lake, 17, set a new PB British indoor junior record in clearing 1.94m to finish second, and silver medallist from the 2104 Commonwealth Games Isobel Pooley came in third with 1.88m.  Lake's effort, especially impressive for a 17 year old, was enough to secure her place in the British squad for next month's European Indoor Championships in Prague.

 

Chijindu Ujah stormed to victory in the Men's 60m in 6.57 seconds ahead of  Sean Safo-Antwi (6.66 seconds) and Roy Ejiakuekwu (6.72 seconds).

Dina Asher-Smith won the Women's 60m in 7.15 seconds.

60m hurdler Lawrence Clarke was pushed all the way but won in a strong finish as he returns from injury.  He dipped in 7.69 seconds to qualify for the European Indoor Championships, with David Omoregie second in 7.78 seconds.

 

  Clare Maurer (Woking AC) in action in the Women's pole vault.

 

Abigail Roberts (Wakefield) in action in the Women's pole vault.

In other action from the day, Kristie Edwards (Sheffield AC, Lewis Samuel) came 10th in her first senior 60m and Jenny Meadows (Wigan AC)  won her heat of the Women's 800m.

 

Pole vaulters Adam Hague and Luke Cutts line up at the EIS

Enjoyed a quick press conference/photo shoot with Adam Hague and Luke Cutts at the EIS, Sheffield today.

This weekend sees the Sainsbury's UK Indoor Athletiics Championships return to the EIS for two days of top athletic action.  Local boys Adam and Luke

Adam has a PB of 5.55m is the current World Youth Indoor pole vault record holder and Luke who set a PB last year of 5.83m is the British Indoor record holder.

See more details of the event at: http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/british-athletics-series/sainsburys-indoor-british-champs/

Sheffield Junior Saints U14s carry on their winning streak

Sheffield Junior Saints U14s posted an impressive 135-20 score against Tees Valley Mohawks to lead the North Divison 12-0.  They were 8-0 up inside the first minute and then played some controlled basketball with regular roations from the bench to cap off another good team performance.

The team spirit and strength from the bench made for an enjoyable performance against a Middlesbrough side that kept on playing til the final whistle.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson to defend titles at EIS Sheffield and Birmingham

Katarina Johnson-Thompson will continue her good start to 2015 when she defends her high jump title at this month's British Indoor Championships at the EIS in Sheffield on 14-15 February.  It will be her second comeback competition since she suffered a foot injury last summer which forced her to miss last summer's Commonwealth Games and European Championships.

A quality field will also include Morgan Lake, and Isobel Pooley who won silver at last year’s Commonwealth Games with a jump of 1.92m.

This is a chance for athletes to use the Sheffield meeting and the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix on 21 February to prepare for the pentathlon event at the European Indoor Championships in Prague in March.

200th post - what's in the bag

As the years and months have gone by and suddently post #200 has come up, I thought to put down a few words on what is in my photobag for a big shoot to mark the occasion:

The UK Indoor Athletics Championships and Birmingham Athletics Grand Prix are coming up in February so I'll be packing something like the following:

Three bodies: 2xNikon D700 plus a Nikon D800
Four lenses: Nikon 300mm f/2.8; Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8; Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8; Sigma 15mm f/2.8 fisheye

This combo lets me typically cover the end of the 60m straight  head-on with a D700/300mm and have the D800 close by with the Sigma 15mm fisheye close to hand for arty-shots of athletes running along a track that looks curvy and with a fair chunk of the stadium also in view.  The other D700 can be set as a remote in-field at times to cover another event such as the long jump - tucked away safely under the legs of a TV camera or measuring device at the end of the pit and triggered when needed.

The other mainstay of the bag is a pen and paper to note down the content of any important shots against  the shot number (while athletes tend to have their name pinned on to their top, they don't always present a face-on shot) as it is needed to be done at the time rather than trying to match names and faces and photos up later in the day.

As I get older, the weight of lugging this around all day, especially over a two-day event, makes the knees creak the next day!

Sheffield Junior Saints U14 basketball team triumph again

After a trip out of snowy Sheffield to the delights of sunny and snow-free Harrogate, Sheffield Junior Saints U14s came away with another win - now 11-0 for the season.

A changed starting-five got the game off to a good start, although St Aidan's kept it to 9-9 early on but some good chances taken saw Q1 finish 27-15 to Sheffield.   This pattern continued to be 53-32 at half-time and then76-43 after Q3.

The strength of the bench told again as Saints ran out 101-49 winners with the biggest cheer of the afternoon for the doughnut shot right at the end - especially as it was a cracking three-point effort.  All credit as well to St Aidan's who plugged away all game.