The Under-16s boys’ race at Parliament Hill Fields, as Camden saw its biggest-ever turnout at the Youth Games cross-country event

THE 50th edition of the London Youth Games is up and running – and Team Camden have wasted little time adding a collection of gongs to their medal table.

As is tradition, the new season of what is considered to be the largest youth multi-sport event in Europe started right here in the borough.

More than 1,500 young runners from across the capital donned their borough’s respective colours on Saturday to take part in the cross-country event at Parliament Hill Fields.

There were a total of eight races on the day, with boys and girls each taking part in four different age groups ranging from Under-12s to Under-18s.

Florence Phillips

Team Camden really lit up the Golden Games as they celebrated no fewer than four podium finishes.

Florence Phillips led the medal charge as she won the girls’ Under-12s race, staged over 1.4km, with a speedy time of six minutes, three seconds.

All of the races started higher up on Hampstead Heath than usual, meaning that runners immediately hit an energy-sapping hill, quickly followed by a narrow, congested path.

Florence said it made the course “even more difficult” than last year.

The 10-year-old, from Dartmouth Park, added: “I was hoping to do well, but I really didn’t expect this! I’m so, so happy.

“I was hoping for a top-five finish, because last year I came sixth, so I was just hoping to improve a little bit.

“The course was really hard, especially the hill, that was deadly. I decided that I would go out strong from the start because there was a bottleneck – and if you got stuck there it’s not that good and you’d get stuck behind loads of runners.

Arjuna Pflug with Camden manager Ben Dorsett – Arjuna took bronze in the men’s Under-18s race

“So I thought I’d settle into an early rhythm and just hope for the best.”

Camden also dominated the boys’ Under-16s race, which was held over 3km. Filip Kounoupas Prastalo (9:53) took the silver medal after finishing just eight seconds behind race winner Thomas Hennigan from Merton.

Filip crossed the finish line just one second ahead of Highgate Harriers teammate Joshua Cohen (9:54), who bagged the bronze.

Overall, the home borough had four runners in the top 10 in the boys’ Under-16s age group out of a field of 198 finishers, with Alex Pettican (10:02) finishing sixth, and Kiaan Zare (10:08) taking 10th position.

The final race of the day saw Arjuna Pflug bring the curtain down on his London Youth Games cross-country career as he finished third in the men’s Under-18s category, completing the 4.5km course in 15:25.

Overall, Camden’s boys finished ninth and the girls took sixth place out of 31 boroughs.

Filip Kounoupas Prastalo and Joshua Cohen, who were second and third in the boys’ Under-16s race

Reflecting on a successful race day, team manager Ben Dorsett, who works for Camden Council, said: “I want to say a massive thank-you to all the young athletes who turned out to represent Camden. They all made their borough really, really proud.

“To see Florence, Filip, Josh and Arjuna all win medals is a fantastic achievement, so well done to all four of them.

“Winning medals is, of course, always fantastic, but above all, the London Youth Games are about giving young people the opportunity to represent their borough – and today we had almost 80 kids racing for Team Camden, which is our biggest turnout at the cross-country event ever.”

Get on the ball…

THERE are plenty more opportunities coming up for youngsters to represent their borough. Among them is the chance for fleet-footed footballers to try out for Camden’s Under-11s girls’ district team. Coaches are searching for “talented and enthusiastic” Year 5 & 6 girls with previous football experience, ideally who are playing regularly for their school or a youth football club. Trials are being held at the Cantelowes Gardens Sports Pitch in Camden Road, Camden Town, every Monday for the remainder of November between 5pm and 6.30pm. To find out more, contact Kirsty Pealling at kirsty.pealling@camden.gov.uk