Don Vanhegan died at the age of 92 on 27th February 2015. The Hammer Circle offers its sincere condolences to his family.

Don was one of the founding members of the Hammer Circle in 1952 along with Malcolm Nokes, Dennis Cullum, Peter Allday etc. Don later became Treasurer of the Hammer Circle, and was President twice (1971 and 1980-2).   He was one of the first decathletes in the UK in the 1940s, contesting four AAA Champs, and was a nationally ranked shot putter until he took up hammer. 

He was also involved in another first - he competed in the first World Vets/World Masters event in Toronto in 1975 and won the M50 category hammer.Coincidentally, at this same Championships, Howard Payne won the M40 hammer and Rosemary won the women's hammer (the first ever major meeting in this event). His hammer PB was 49.45/162'3 in 1957, set at the AAA Championships where he was seventh.  His SP best was 14.11 in 1960.  Don won several Hertfordshire titles, and Southern Counties medals.

Below is a cutting about him from a newspaper in 1957: