2015 - a year in review

As the year starts to draw to a close it's time to look back on another great year for sporting photography.

The year usually starts off with a host of indoor athletics meetings, culminating in the UK Indoor Athletics Championships (http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/british-athletics-series/indoor-british-championships/) at the EIS in Sheffield where Katarina Johnson-Thompson set a new UK record for the high jump of 1.97m:

As Spring really starts to get going, Sheffield hosts the Snooker World Championships (http://www.worldsnooker.com/) over 17 days at the Crucible theatre.  Ronnie O'Sullivan again was a main focus of attention and, having missed all of his noteworthy antics this year (taking his shoes off, putting the chalk on the table, hitting the table with his cue...) it was good to see Stuart Bingham come good and claim the title:

Manchester hosts one of the series in the 'Great City Games' (http://www.greatcitygames.org/manchester) where athletics comes out of the stadiums and onto the streets.  Jessica Ennis-Hill continued her comeback with a strong performance in the 100m hurdles:

June saw me splash out on a GoPro Hero4 (http://gopro.com/) which has been very impressive it's capabilities for recording video while stuck on the end of a long pole (basketball) and propped up at the base of the water jump (athletics - steeplechase).

Nottingham hosted National Table Tennis day (http://tabletennisengland.co.uk/news/how-will-national-table-tennis-day-inspire-you/) in July and the highlight of this fest was playing a game against Desmond Douglas:

September saw the 10th running of the Great Yorkshire Run (http://www.greatrun.org/great-yorkshire-run) and I was fortunate enough to be asked to be the official photographer for the day which resulted in a double-page spread in Athletics Weekly:

And so the year finishes with Sheffield Sharks (http://www.sharksbasketball.org/) delighting the home crowd at the EIS with a hard-fought 69-66 win over the London Lions:

A brief rest over Christmas and then it's back to it starting 2nd January 2016 with the 'Finish Line' indoor athletics event at the EIS, Sheffield.

All the best to everyone over the festive season and especially for a great year in 2016.

First double-page spread in Athletics Weekly!

After getting picked up occasionally over the years by AW for the odd pic or two (blog passim), my coverage of last weekend's Great Yorkshire Run has made a double-page feature in the UK's no1 athletics magazine: http://www.athleticsweekly.com/

Kept off the cover only by the imminent retirement of the great Haile Gebrselassie?  Next time!

Jonny Mellor and Lauren Howarth take Great Yorkshire Run titles

Jonny Mellor and Lauren Howarth won the ninth Great Yorkshire Run in 29:12 and 33:49 respectively for the 10km event in Sheffield.

 

 

Mellor who regained the title he last won in 2012 was more than a minute ahead of Kenya's Jackson Biwott (30:19) and Ethiopia's Wondiye Indelbu (30:21).

Howarth, on her debut, was another clear winner as she beat Lauren Deadman (34:15) and Sophie Cowper (35:14).  Howarth’s win follows four-in-a-row victories in Sheffield for European cross-country champion Gemma Steel, who decided to focus instead on October's Great Scottish Run.

 

A side event in the competiton is the annual “War of the Roses” challenge.  This is a competition between runners from Yorkshire (white rose on their race number) and Lancashire (red rose).  The average time of the competitors was fastest again this year for Yorkshire who retain the War of the Roses trophy.

The Great Yorkshire Run returns to Sheffield for it's ninth running

It looks as if the sun will shine again this weekend for the 9th running of the Great Yorkshire Run - the annual 10k that takes place along Sheffield's streets.

Gemma Steel will be looking to make it 5-in-a-row following her success last year though she will probably face stiff competition from Lauren Howarth and Lauren Deadman.

Gemma Steel wins (again) in 2014

In the men’s race, Chris Thompson continues his comeback from injury and will be up against Ryan McLeod, Johnny Mellor, Keith Gerrard, Sam Stabler, Sean Fontana, Kenya’s Jackson Biwott and Ethiopia’s Wondiye Indelbu.

See more at: http://www.greatrun.org/great-yorkshire-run