LANGHAM high jumper Thomas Hewes is now gearing up for the challenge of competing at under-20 level after capping a fine year with two silver medals.

The 16-year-old finished second on countback when representing England South East at the recent UK School Games, at Loughborough University.

Hewes cleared 2.04 metres to finish tied with the gold medal winner but had to settle for silver at the event, where the best athletes from across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland competed.

It followed hot on the heels of Hewes' silver at the Under-17 English National Championships at Bedford, where he was in action against the country's two top-ranked under-17 high jumpers.

The Colchester Sixth Form College student, who has competed regularly for his county this summer, produced his best performance of the season after clearing 2.05m, beating the National Indoor and English Schools champion.

Hewes' clearance would have clinched the title in any of the previous ten years but the winner this year cleared an incredible 2.10m.

The Chelmsford Athletic Club member is now due a well-earned rest from athletics before starting his winter training programme, aimed at preparing him for under-20 competition in 2017.

Hewes said: “It’ll be tough next year but a personal best (PB) of 2.05m would already see me ranked sixth in the under-20 age group and I’ll certainly be looking to improve on that.

"I’ve recently had a number of great compliments from some highly-rated coaches about my new technique and I’m really excited to see where it can take me over the next 12 months.

“I’d been aware for some time that I needed to make changes to my technique in order to progress beyond clearances of 2.0m and immediately after the Indoor season I visited Loughborough University, where most of the top national coaches are based, to get some advice.

"The changes I needed to make took longer than expected to bed in – especially given the interruptions to my training caused by taking my GCSEs – but having worked hard with Phil Sergeant - my coach at Chelmsford AC – I’m now starting to see the benefits.”

Hewes had ended the indoor season with silver in the English Indoor U17 Championships, earlier this year.