On Thursday evening, Tavistock Athletic Club set up camp in the Meadows to host their annual Tavistock Town Relays event, part of carnival week, writes Andy Hughes.

Teams of four runners, passing a baton between each member, took turns to run a 1.1-mile course up and down each side of the river. The main event comprised junior, women’s and men’s races, all preceded by a fun race for kids and their parents, run over the same course.

This popular event always draws runners from clubs through the region, as well as corporate teams, but this year was recording-breaking. A total of 145 teams of four – totalling 580 runners – completed the course, and the fun runners added another 100 to that total.

Club tents were scattered through the park and spectators swelled the crowds still further, meaning that TAC’s catering tent was busy throughout the evening. From the monies raised during the evening, the club make a sizeable donation to Tavistock Lions for onward distribution to their nominated good causes.

It is no small feat of organisation to bring all of the necessary support together and race director Richard Nettleship paid tribute to the many helpers from the club, Tavistock Lions and the local community for all their hard work. Tasks included marshalling, timekeeping, catering, race commentary, registration, set-up, break-down and photography – all of which were well appreciated by the assembled runners.

Thanks were also paid to James Armstrong Physio for sponsoring the event for a third year. Results were as follows:

In the Men’s race, Tamar Trotters were overall winners of the Senior Club race in a total time of 20m 53s, their team consisting of Richard Ezra-Ham, Luke Attwood, Oliver Oldfield and Jacob Landers.

Winners of the other categories were: Club Vet 40: a TAC team (Ian Collacott, Thomas Brogden, Grant Harvey and Alistair Peers), Club Vet 50: an Okehampton Running Club team (Andrew Vernon, Ross Morley-Trapnell, Paul Crease and Stuart Page), Club Vet 60: a Plymouth Musketeers team (Bill Christie, Jim Andrews, Brian King and Rodney Hillibrandt).

The Corporate category was won by Mount Kelly (Ian Trice, Adam Ried, Sally Titmus and Sam Larkham).

In the Women’s race, TAC were the overall winners with a team comprising Nikki Kelly, Jasmine Grey, Charlotte Walker and Emma Ryder. Winners of the other categories were: Club Vet 35; GTR (Kirsty Drowse, Laura Clarke, Emily Warren and Heather Maskell), Club Vet 45; a TAC team (Helen Orme, Caroline Stevens, Soozie Trice and Sarah Holland), Club Vet 55 a TAC team (Jenny Bryant, Helen Kula-Przezwanski, Tracey Oxborough and Kate Rogers).

In the Juniors race, TAC won Year 5/6 Girls (Hollie Rowe, Lillia Pockwell, Juno Eccleston and Mabel Maguire), Year 7/8 Girls (Zoë Bigham, Nell Maguire, Eloise Patrick, Lamorna Cox), Year 9/10 Girls (Tamsyn Reid, Claudia Jones, Anya McAuley, Lara Dix), Year 5/6 Boys (Rufus Alford, Roman Aird, Charlie Cleland, Jack Anthony) and Year 9/10 Boys (Rueben Sebag-Montefiore, Ollie Houlberg, Sebastian White, Ruben McAulay).

City of Plymouth won Year 11/12 Girls (Holly Reid, Imogen Rickard, Martha Wilson, Molly Shorey), Year 7/8 Boys (Lucas Sweeney, Taylan Jones, Harrison Crawford, Finley Eales), and Year 11/12 Boys (Douglas Richardson, Finley Squires, Thomas Jones, Joshua Bloxham).