Crawley Boxing Club’s Olly Rhymes has just grabbed national glory in an England Boxing training initiative.

Seventeen-year old Rhymes put aside the misery of not being able to train in the gym due to the pandemic lockdown rules, by stepping up his outdoor training and taking part in the sports ruling body nationwide challenge.

Rhymes, from Furnace Green, left all his fellow challengers in his wake by racing to victory in the 3k run with a knockout time of 11 minutes 34 seconds, leaving Peterborough fighter Keanu Scowen trailing in his wake by 30 seconds.

Rhymes told the Observer: “As I can’t train normally at the gym I’ve been stepping up my running to five days a week, normally doing at least 5k a day, but when I saw the England Boxing Strava challenge I decided to go for it.

“After winning it’s first time out I’m going to go for it every week now with a determination to better my time every week.”

Crawley Boxing Club coaches Paddy Harmey, Rees Hopcraft and Ron Parsons are delighted with the progress Rhymes has shown and hope that more of the club boxers will also take up the challenge while they wait for the government to let them reopen their gym.