Wandsworth  triumphed as the new Balfour Beatty London Youth Games season got under way with the cross-country competitions at Parliament Hill on Saturday.

The borough's athletes, defending their Jubilee Trophy as overall Games champions last year, started this year’s campaign in great style, winning the team female title, improving on last year’s silver medal.

Nearly 1,200 young Londoners represented their boroughs at the season-opener, with Olympic marathon runner and former Games competitor Scott Overall presenting the prizes.

There was a repeat success for Putney High School’s Alexandra Brown who won the female U15 race, successfully stepping up from the U13 age group where she took gold last year, spearheading the U15 girls’ team to gold in their age group.

Afterwards, the 13-year-old Herne Hill Hariers runner said: “Last year I won it in the U13s, so it was really nice to come back in the older age group and win it again.

"I thought I had a chance because this is my kind of course. I like hills and mud.”

Wandsworth scored another team gold in the U13 female race with Earlsfield’s Clarissa Nicholls winning individual silver.

Meanwhile, Wandsworth’s male team placed a very respectable fourth overall.

Team Manager Anne-Marie Ormonde was delighted with her team’s efforts.

She said: “Our team is not picked from just one specific club or one specific avenue. We do a lot of work with schools and we have open trials and work with the clubs. It’s a real mix bag, but they did really well.

“The London Youth Games is really important for us. Some of our athletes haven’t done cross country before. But one of them did really well in his age group and now he’s off to join a club.”

To find out more about the competing or volunteering at London Youth Games, visit londonyouthgames.org or follow @ldnyouthgames on Twitter