The horrendous weather on Sunday didn’t result in any of the planned races being cancelled but it certainly made them harder, as most Tavistock Athletic Club competitors were battered by wind, rain and mud.Probably the hardest pair of races were the Eden full and half marathons, where the hilly terrain was yet another factor working against the runners.  

Sarah Holland took on the full marathon and completed in 5hr 9min and 36s.  

In the half marathon, club chairman Mark West ran a great race amongst 950 runners to 4th M50 in 1:41:09, as did Heather Fell, finishing 5th female and first F40 in 1:42:58.  Sarah Turner ran well to finish in 2:21:15.

A little further afield, and escaping the bad weather, Molly Bytheway travelled to take on the Amsterdam marathon - a very much flatter course - finishing in a very creditable 3:52:26.

Back in Devon, nine TAC athletes joined 98 others to run the inaugural Run Fit Run 5 race - a 5-miler on Granite Way, organised by local coaching group Run Fit Run Fast.  Sam Larkham excelled to take first place in a great time of 27min 46s, followed in 8th place by Grant Harvey in 29:55.  Reuben Sebag-Montefiore was 2nd under-18 male in 29:57 and Nicki Kelly was 2nd female in 30:37.  

Caroline Steven took 1st FV55 in 36:48, followed by Helene Orme, 38:13; Kate Rogers, 3rd FV65, 45:19; Les Wilkinson, 2nd FV60, 46:48; and Tim Haimes, 47:48.

Tony Shearer was the only TAC athlete to compete the Plymouth Harriers Autumn 5, a 2-lap 5-mile race in Central Park Plymouth, completing in an excellent time of 44:26 and gaining 2nd place in his MV70 age category.

Locally, Dene Medland, Sue Harley and Paul Marshall were amongst TAC runners joining the ‘Run for Dotty’ 5km run in support of Dotty King, and helping raise money for Cancer Research.