Camden’s athletes, with the help of Highgate Harriers, put in a strong showing at their meet in Walthamstow

TEAM Camden brought the curtain down on their “best ever performance” in the London Youth Games over the weekend the only way they knew how – by winning even more medals!

The borough’s talented athletes flocked to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, east London, to celebrate the end of another successful season competing in Europe’s largest annual youth multi-sports festival.

Sam Jones

And all their hard work and effort was rewarded as they guided Camden to a ninth-place finish out of 33 London boroughs – the highest ever final position that Camden has recorded at the Games.

Team manager Ben Dorsett said all the youngsters should be “extremely proud” of helping Camden rewrite the history books.

Micah Drummond

“I will have been working for Camden for 18 years this month and I’ve never known the borough to finish in the top 10 at the London Youth Games,” said Ben, who works for Camden Council’s Sport and Physical Activity Service. “It’s a fantastic achievement.

Cyclist Guillem Revilla Zanichelli, about to start his time trial at the Lee Valley VeloPark

“Across the team and individual events we won a total of 30 medals, which again I think is a new record for Camden.

“And we managed to field at least one athlete in every sport that was available to us, which also hasn’t happened before – certainly not in recent history.

“Of course, winning medals is always great, but our main aim is to give as many young people as possible the chance to represent Camden, and I think we achieved that aim.”

Cyclists, from left: Jonathan Cobb, Gabe Samson, Guillem Revilla Zanichelli and Nathanael Cobb

Joining this season’s honours list is William Ellis schoolboy Rowan Court, who clocked a personal best time of two minutes, 14.04 seconds to capture a gold medal in the 800m at the athletics finals. The time was seven seconds faster than the teenager achieved last year when he finished fifth.

Rowan Court

Speedster Micah Drummond also returned to the Games with an improved performance. Having bagged a bronze in the BMX competition back in 2022, this year the Torriano Primary School pupil did even better as he raced to a silver medal at the Lee Valley VeloPark.

Meanwhile in the aquathlon – which consists of an energy-sapping swim followed by a run – UCL Academy student Sam Jones put in another stellar showing to scoop silver for the second year in a row.

Camden’s aquathlon team who competed at the London Aquatics Centre

Young athletes can be confident that the foundations are being strengthened to help Team Camden build on their performances in this year’s London Youth Games, School Games and ParaGames.

Ben added: “We’ve built upon and added to the strong links that we have with various clubs and organisations across the borough.

Team Camden’s girls’ netball squad, made up of pupils from South Hampstead High School, did well to reach Sunday’s grand finals – but just missed out on the medals as they finished fourth

“This season Camden also hosted the London Youth Games trampoline and squash competitions for the first time ever, adding them to the cross-country event that we regularly host on Hampstead Heath at the start of each campaign.

“We look forward to hosting all three events again in the 2024/25 season, which is another massive achievement for the borough.”

• To find out more about all of the opportunities to represent Team Camden next season email Ben.Dorsett@camden.gov.uk