Tavistock Athletic Club’s runners made the short trip to Central Park, Plymouth for the penultimate Westward League cross country fixture of the season on Sunday.
The course is one of the toughest in the league with several challenging hills on each lap but after weeks of dry weather the underfoot conditions were good and this made for some fast and exciting races.
The under 11s development race got the action underway. Tristan Bigham was first TAC runner to finish. He was closely followed by debutant Mary Brogden. Mary, her younger sister Fearne and Oliver Neale were all excited to take part in their first race for the club.
The under 13 boys and girls races continued the good start to the day for TAC. Lamorna Cox and Zoe Bigham have been running well all season. Lamorna showed great grit to overtake a couple of runners when going up the steepest hill on the course which ultimately helped her achieve an excellent 4th position. Zoe was not far behind in 6th. Nell Maguire was third scorer for Tavistock who are top of the league with just one fixture remaining.
The u13 boys also fared well. Thomas Hennessey had won the year 7 South West schools race the previous weekend. In Plymouth, he continued his good form with an excellent third place finish in a race that included year 8s. In fact all the Tavy team are year 7s. They are doing fantastically particularly when considering most of their competitors are a year older. Despite their young age they are currently second in the league table.
The under 15 boys and girls teams were depleted because of half term and other commitments. However, Reuben Sebag-Montefiore made a very promising debut for the club. Following advice to start conservatively and try and overtake runners in the second half of the race he did just that. He achieved an excellent 12th position and finished with a terrific sprint.
The seniors women’s race was a high quality affair with some of the best runners in the South West taking part. Nikki Kelly achieved her best ever result as the first senior women home (only beaten by under 17 boys and one u17 girl). Joe Meek was close behind as 4th female and Sam Lake was 8th. Jenny Jeeves completed the scoring for the A team and this result has improved their standing in the league.
The senior men’s race was the longest of the day at approximately nine kilometres. This comprised three long laps. In total, there were nine big hills! All TAC runners acquitted themselves well. In particular: Sam Larkham – who was making his cross country debut – finished a very impressive 18th and Colin Bigham had his highest ever finish in 26th.
The final fixture of the season is in Redruth on Sunday March 5. Tavistock AC are likely to win several team medals across the age groups and a hatful of individual age category medals. It will be just rewards for a season where runners have shown great determination in races, trained diligently, supported their teammates and encouraged runners racing for all clubs.
Under 11 boys and girls combined race: Tristan Bigham 11, Mary Brogden 17, Oliver Neale 22, Fearne Brogden 25
Under 13 girls: Lamorna Cox 4, Zoe Bigham 6, Nell Maguire 14,Suzie Woodrow 17, Miri Crossey 18, Eloise Patrick 22
Under 13 boys: Thomas Hennessey 3, Freddie Whybrow 7, Archie Neale 13, Ollie Thomson 14
Under 15 boys and girls combined race: Reuben Sebag-Montefiore 12, Claudia Jones 23, Anya McAulay 27
Senior women combined with U17 boys and girls: Nikki Kelly 12 (2nd female), Jo Meek 14 (4th female), Sam Lake 21 (8th female), Jenny Jeeves 33, Hannah Walker 47, Alison Bigham 58, Rachel Jones 59, Anna Kelly 76, Hazel Walker 77
Senior men: Sam Larkham 18, Colin Bigham 26, Alistair Peers 48, Marc Curtis 71, Dave Harris 78, Martin Exley-Deane 79, Joe Chalk 81.
