YORK VX Club’s Scott Snowden has been crowned V2 national champion by defeating reigning world youth title holder Tom Brown 85-84 in a thrilling final.

With the score all-square at half-time, the players fought an evenly-contested battle right until the final whistle before Snowden, who finished runner-up at the Active York Sportsman of the Year awards night, inflicted a first-ever defeat on Brown in the singles discipline of the sport formerly known as rock-it-ball.

Snowden beat arch-rival Tom Hildreth 96-67 at the group stage and qualified for the final with a 100 per cent record.

In the other group, competing at senior level for the first time, Brown’s crucial game saw him overcome Snowden’s York team-mate Charlie Ford 64-53.

Ford went on to lose the third/fourth play-off clash with ex-world champion Hildreth 93-77, but received the Fair Play award for his conduct throughout the competition.

York’s Chris Town, meanwhile, improved his national ranking from tenth to fourth at the competition and Leigh Branton, despite being hampered by an ankle injury, finished fifth in the Masters’ category, which placed him on the radar for England selection.

Snowden also won the inaugural 365 Invitational Challenge Cup with another exciting, single-point final victory over Hildreth, while Ford finished third at that event.