Balfour Beatty London Youth Games 2009 report

Taking aim in Archery competition

Team Richmond shine at London Youth Games

After seven months of competition, involving 50 events, a team of young athletes representing Richmond has finished fourth in the 2009 London Youth Games. Along the way the team picked up five gold medals and 24 top ten finishes, as well as the ‘Most Improved Borough’ award. Team Richmond full results table(pdf, 195KB)

Over 400 young people living or attending school in Richmond upon Thames took part in the games, which started back in January and finished at Crystal Palace last weekend (4 and 5 July).

Commenting on the success Cllr Liz Jaeger, Cabinet Member for Youth, Culture and Leisure, said:

“This year has been a historic London Youth Games for Team Richmond, our most successful since it started 32 years ago. My congratulations go to all those who took part and my thanks to our sports development team for all their hard work.

“We received great support from local sports clubs, such as Harlequins, who sponsored the team, as well as having training sessions with Olympic champions like Andrew Triggs-Hodge and Anna Hemmings. These partnerships are something we will look to build on in the future, so that young people in the borough have the very best opportunities to develop their skills.”

Mark Evans, Chief Executive of Harlequins, added:

“We were delighted to sponsor the team and attend the mini Youth Games last Thursday. It was particularly pleasing to see so many young people taking part who have been involved in some of the community activities we run at the club.

“This is the ninth year we have supported Team Richmond, during which time it have gone from strength to strength, and we look forward to working with them in the year’s to come.”

The games involved all 32 London Boroughs and the City of London, competing against each other in over 50 sporting events.

Team Richmond won gold in the boy’s judo team event, girl’s tag rugby, girl’s hockey, rowing and kayak sprint teams, as well as being crowned overall regatta champions. There were also top five finishes in netball, karate, squash, disabled football, swimming and indoor rowing.

Team Richmond also did exceptionally well in the mini games on Thursday 2 July. Over 80 youngsters from a selection of the borough’s primary schools competed in seven sports. Richmond retained first place in the tag rugby for the fourth year in a row, came second in swimming and netball and third in hockey.

Kayak slalom

Reception at The Stoop, home to Harlequins Rugby

Wednesday 15 July 2009

The Stoop was the perfect back-drop to host the 2009 London Youth Games Reception…

Over 300 people attended the reception held by Richmond Council’s Sports Development Team on Wednesday 15 July. The evening provided an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of all those competitors who have represented the borough at this years Games.

This was a very special year for Team Richmond. With 5 gold’s and 24 top ten placings Richmond finished in 4th place out of the 32 London Boroughs and the City of London. This is Richmond’s best result since the Games started 32 year’s ago and as a result we were awarded ‘The Most Improved Borough’ trophy.

The Team Richmond 2009 Campaign began back in January with the cricket competitions and came to a close two weeks ago at Crystal Palace.

Harlequin’s players Chris Brooker and Gary Botha were on hand to present the awards and praise Richmond competitors for their achievements.

Competitors competing in disability athletics

Richmond’s Mini Games teams brought home a number of medals. This included gold for tag rugby, silver for swimming and netball and bronze for hockey.

In the Main Games we had a number of notable performances, with gold’s in boy’s judo, kayak sprints, rowing, girl’s hockey and girl’s tag rugby. Team Richmond were also crowned 2009 regatta champions!

Elaine Cahill, student at St Mary’s University won the volunteer of the year award for her involvement with the girl’s tag rugby team. Fenella Sams picked up the Main Games Team Manager award for all of her hard work with the girl’s hockey team and Paul Burke took home the Mini Games Team Manager award for the third year in a row.

Schools participation was recognised with Hampton School winning the boy’s trophy and Waldegrave School winning the girl’s. The overall contribution award went to BUSEN Martial Arts and Fitness Club in Twickenham for their continued support and achievements.

Trevor Wetherall of Richmond Canoe Club was awarded with the Eileen Gray Award. This is a London-wide award, recognising the contribution and dedication an individual has given to the Games. This was presented by Russell Findlay, Chief Executive from the London Youth Games.

As the evening came to a close, the Mayor of Richmond, Councillor Celia Hodges, accepted a cheque for £4500 from Harlequins to contribute towards the 2010 London Youth Games.

It was a fantastic evening of celebration for Team Richmond 2009.