SUNDAY saw a different experience for cross-country runners from Tavistock when they travelled to Westward Ho! for the latest event in the Charles Stanley Western League series.

They were greeted by sun and blue skies, rather than the usual lashing rain and howling winds, making for much more pleasant racing conditions as they raced around the Northam Downs.

In the Under-11 girls race, Olivia Walkerdine continued her great form with a 2nd place finish and, with Harriet Sylvester and Fern Brogden also taking 12th and 17th positions respectively, it was a solid team performance for the girls. In the combined U15 girls and U13 boys race that followed, Jack Anthony had a strong race achieving a 13th place overall.

The Under 15 boys race saw another solid team performance from the TAC runners as they pushed to win the league title. Freddie Whybrow (5th), Eldon Young (7th), Archie Neale (13th), Arthur Norton (15th) and Ben Letaigne (21st) each battled hard to win valuable points.

In the combined U17 and senior women race, Reuben Sebag-Montefiore led the TAC runners home with an 8th place overall with Jasmine Gray (17th) the leading TAC woman.

Just four TAC men competed in the final race, with Tom Brogden leading them home with an excellent 26th place. The next race in the league will take place in Central Park Plymouth on 9th February.

Elsewhere, it has been a great start for the year for TAC's junior athletes with some exceptional indoor track performances at major regional events.

On January 5, 15-year-old Caleb Gifford-Groves took the 800m indoor title at the South West Championships in Cardiff with a scorching time of 2 min 3.3 sec. And on January 11, 16-year-old Joe Wake achieved a personal best of 7.04 sec in the 60m sprint and a season’s best of 23.38 sec in the 200m event on his way to qualifying for both finals at the South of England Indoor Championships at Lee Valley (North London).