Hackney BMX make history with first gold medal at London Youth Games
Hackney BMX team members display their London Youth Games medals - Credit: Archant
Hackney BMX are celebrating a thrilling gold medal at the London Youth Games – the club’s first since the competition began in 2012.
Having finished second to Southwark at last year’s event, Hackney went one better this time around at Burgess Park BMX, with an impressive return of individual medallists.
Phoebe Gaynor won gold in the Under-12 girls’ category, while her younger sister Theia took silver in the Under-nines’ event.
Another silver prize was presented to Tai Suleyman Jr in the Under-12 boys’ category, while Under-18s girls’ hopeful Yasmin Murad took bronze.
BMX team manger Tai Suleyman was understandably thrilled with the outcome and believes the club can now go from strength to strength representing Hackney in the future.
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“It feels really good, the kids have worked really hard,” Suleyman said. “We’re lucky that we were able to cover most of the categories with the very best riders who ride at regional level. The only weak category we had was the Under-18 boys, simply because we didn’t have anyone.
“The kids have just been great because they really took to the sport. They travel around the country racing so we’re just lucky that Access Sport set us up as a legacy club and we’re the only one in our area, so our membership is really centralised.”
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Meanwhile, Hackney’s female basketball team qualified for the London Youth Games finals at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre on July 4 after winning each of their three group matches and beating Croydon 21-9 in the quarter-finals.
Team manager Fe Duhaney-Keown said: “It feels great. Some of the girls I’ve had going through this process, trying to get to finals weekend, for a few years, so for them it was immense. The hard work has paid off.”
