Richmond Victorious As Virtual Cross Country Gets London Moving

3,894 young Londoners took part in the Nike x LYG Virtual Cross Country, the first virtual event of the new London Youth Games’ season.

Running to earn points for their boroughs, participants competed across four different age groups in male and female competitions, completing a set distance and submitting their time via the London Youth Games’ website. Boroughs scored points for participation numbers and top 50 finishes.

Haringey put in a valiant effort, winning the Female competition and finishing second in the Male, but it was Richmond who were victorious, winning the Male competition and scoring the most points overall.

Jorjia March (Enfield) claimed gold in the U11 Female competition, while Caspian Holmes (Lambeth) took the top spot in the U11 Male category.

In the U13 Female category Siena Lepine (Richmond) recorded the winning time, and Olly Buck (Greenwich) led the U13 Males finishing in 06:33.

Adela Svihalkova (Kensington and Chelsea) scored top marks in the U15 Females, while Christo Chilton (Southwark) finished first in the U15 Males.

The U17 Female category was won by Ellen Weir (Merton), and Jonny Brooks (Richmond) led the U17 Male competition with a finishing time of 14:27.

Andy Dalby-Welsh, LYG CEO, said: “Congratulations to Richmond and to all the young people who took part. We’re delighted with the participation numbers. It is more than double the number of runners we would usually welcome to Parliament Hill for our Cross Country event. That really speaks to the strength of these virtual events in reaching our young people.

“In addition to our medal winners, we would also like to celebrate individuals like Billy, a young para athlete from Havering, who alongside his brother Teddy walked his 2km distance with his Mum, taking great pride from representing his borough. Also, one of our first-time runners from Richmond, who having taken part in the Virtual Cross Country is planning to join their local running club. Maybe we will see them next year at Parliament Hill.”

Full results for the Nike x LYG Virtual Cross Country are available here