Grange 800m runner selected for England

Sam Dykes, The Grange School's foremost 800m runner, has been selected to represent England at Under 20 level at a home international in Cardiff, where he will compete against the best young 800m runners from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Sam was selected for the England team after an excellent performance at a recent indoor Athletics Grand Prix in Sheffield were he beat a strong field in an extremely impressive time of 1 minute 52 seconds. 

Sam looked strong throughout the race and quickly established himself in a commanding position towards the front of the field where he was able to track the leaders.  Hugging the inside of the track, Sam held firm behind the early pace setter as others gradually fell away.  Going into the final bend Sam made his move, slipping into a gear that his opponents didn't seem to have, he went past the leader seemingly at will, before pulling away strongly on the final straight to win by a convincing margin.

"This is an excellent achievement, Sam works really hard on his running and deserves the success he is getting," said Paul Grattage, Director of Sport at The Grange.  Sam has also been invited to attend the UK World Trials in February.