London Youth Games Cross Country

On Saturday the 19^th of November, 32 boroughs entered the London Youth Games (LYG) Cross Country at Parliament Hill with only Barking and Dagenham absent.  This was the first competition in the 2023 season with around 30 more to take part in.  Team Greenwich brought 34 runners, 17 boys and 17 girls. These runners were mostly selected through the Greenwich Secondary School Cross Country event at Avery Hill although some who live in the borough but go to school out of it gained entry through club submissions. The Avery Hill race is organised by Cambridge Harriers and had an impressive total of 434 participants, 224 girls and 210 boys. 

There were two LYG cross country competitions one for boys and one for girls. For each gender there were 3 teams that score points; under 13, under 15 and under 17. The fastest 3 runners in each category contribute to the team total. Details of all the runner’s performances who represented the Royal Borough of Greenwich are on the table at the end of this article and the full results are online.

The best Greenwich team on the day were clearly the female under 15s as they won silver medals in a race that 32 teams entered. To achieve this feat required individual finishes of 4^th, 6^th and 19^th out of the 189 runners. A massive well done to Marley Reeves, Emer Tynan and Iris Williams.  Those 3 girls were supported by their 5 team mates who all pushed themselves to the limit on the hilly course. The under 15 boys team did very well too coming 5^th in London with Sam Scarse-Field placing 5^th and Olly Buck in 8^th securing top 10 finishes. A name for the future is Alex Hows who despite being in Year 7 finished 19^th out of 230 athletes in the under 13 race. If he is able to race again next year he could be a challenger for an individual medal in that age group. 

As a result of these performances after two events (male and female) the Royal Borough of Greenwich are in 14^th position in the Jubilee Trophy on 56 points whilst neighbours Bromley made the perfect start with two overall team golds giving them the maximum 100 points.

Borough Team Manager Daniel Bank had this to say about the LYG opener “we are looking to continue the momentum from the 2022 campaign which saw the Royal Borough of Greenwich achieve a record finish of 8^th. There were some impressive individual performances in the cross country and I am delighted the under 15s got their silver medals. The under 15 boys nearly got in the top 3 as well. More importantly we had lots of engagement with the selection process and a full bus of athletes. I hope the new cohort follow the example of the under 17 girls who have been consistently competing for years and seem to really enjoy it each time”

The next running event will be the Mini Marathon 2023 on April 22^nd. Teams will be selected by a trial in March or submitted evidence. For more information please contact RBGSportDevelopment@GLL.ORG.