A large colony of Bere Alston Trekkers, 11 to be precise, gathered at Plaster Down on Dartmoor to take on the Tavy 7.

This seven-mile road race organised by Tavistock AC, is in its third-course iteration since the event was conceived in the late 1980s.

Starting at Plaster Down, the race route takes runners past Pew Tor and through the hamlet of Sampford Spiney as the course loops round to take runners back to retrace their steps over the last two miles.

The undulating narrow country lanes along the way afford some very scenic views of Dartmoor with a very welcome downhill finish in a grassy field.

Whilst a tad damp underfoot in places following recent weather the late autumn sun shone brightly for once in excellent conditions for running.

Finding things very much to his liking, Murray Turner was the first Trekker home in a time of 53:00. Samantha Harte-Latrimouille crossed the line in 57:48 and was 3rd in her age category. Lisa Birch finished in 58:21, William Hine in 1:00:17, Christie Campbell in 1:01:40 and Kate Medhurst gained a three-minute race personal best time of 1:02:54.

Paul Martin came home in 1:06:05, Lisa Nickel in 1:07:30, Steve Davis in 1:08:42, Pete Kenvin in 1:13:49 and Melanie Greaves in 1:14:34.

Athletes from across the region lined up for the start and among them were also, a strong contingent from Tavistock Run Project. The event incorporated the Ross Shield Trophy, Devon's oldest road race event and several teams coveted the chance to have their names on it.

TRP team take on Tavy 7
TRP team take on Tavy 7 (Contributed)

At the front, the pace was fierce with Mike Wilsmore of Tamar Trotters closely followed by Jim Cole of TRP and old adversary Mark Jenkins of Bideford.

As an aside, two runners appeared to reset their clocks to GMT and lagged far behind the pack, not surprising giving the leaders an hour’s start was not a good idea with Mike Wilsmore taking the win in just over 37 minutes, followed home by Jim Cole and Mark Jenkins respectively.

The team event highlighted the strength of Southwest Road Runners who proved to be the strongest on the day taking the title and the Ross Shield in front of TRP who put in a sterling performance once again punching above their weight against much bigger clubs.

With Jim being the talisman, followed home by Alex Peyton-Jones, Wes Smith, Sam Chambers, Lewis Mill, Nathan Folland, Pete Moyse, Umberto Bergonzoni and Mark Baker, it was an outstanding run from all the guys.

The ladies race saw one-time TRP athlete Hannah Smith take the honours with another strong performance.

Next up for TRP will be the Westward League Cross Country in two weeks at Newquay.