Sunday saw the running of the annual Tavy 13 race – Tavistock’s own half marathon. 219 runners finished the challenging course which started and finished at TAC’s running track at the College, taking in a very hilly route across west Dartmoor. The runners endured blustery conditions on the exposed parts of the route but the rain largely kept away until prize-giving time.
TAC’s Ben Neale took first place overall, leading all the way and finishing strongly, six and a half minutes ahead of Matty Smith (Horsham Blue Star Harriers) in a time of 1hr 13min. Ross MacDonald Plymouth Musketeers) took 3rd place. TAC also took 1st place in the ladies’ race, with Sam Lake finishing in 1hr 30min, 13th overall and nearly six minutes ahead of her second place rival Joanne Page (Okehampton RC), with Kirsty Prowse of Devon & Somerset FRS in 3rd place. Plymouth Musketeers won both the the Male and Female Team prizes, with Plymouth Harriers and Storm Plymouth taking 2nd and 3rd Male Team places. Possibly the longest distance travelled to the event was by David Lancaster from the City of York Athletics Club, who won the M65 age category.
Richard Nettleship, Race Director for the event, paid tribute to the largest number of volunteers from inside and outside of the Club that pulled together to make the event possible – covering marshalling, catering, traffic management, timekeeping and countless other tasks before, during and after the race. It was pleasing to hear how much the runners appreciated the support of the marshalls throughout their run. Particular thanks are due to Mansbridge Balment, the community sponsors of the event (and who also helped out at one of the water stations), and to Dartmoor Search and Rescue and Tavistock Lions for their support during the day.
Age category winners were as follows: M40 – Thomas Brogden (unattached), M45 – Martin French (City of Plymouth AC), M50 – David Tomlin (Exmouth Harriers), M55 – Stuart Hall (Devon & Cornwall FRS), M60 – Andrew Charles (Plymouth Harriers), M65 David Lancaster (City of York AC), M70 – Allan Herdman (Tavistock AC), F35 – Joanne Page (Okehampton RC), F40 – Sam Lake (Tavistock AC), F45 – Leila Matthews (Plymouth Musketeers RC), F50 – Natasha Stephens (unattached), F55 – Steph Olliffe (Torrington AAC), F60 – Carole Walters (Lewes AC).
