THERE was a good turnout for this year's Tavy Town Races with 24 relay teams running in the main race and more than 100 youngsters taking part in the two fun runs.
For the relay race, teams from running clubs competed with local organisations and sports teams in the four by 1.1-mile event. The first race of the evening was for the Under 10s running the shorter course and the Tavistock Athletic Club Juniors stole the show with Rufus Gould winning the race followed by Laura Apen winning the girls' event in overall 2nd place. Rhys Dunford finished 3rd with Owen Drage finishing in a good 4th position.
In the over 10s junior race, the larger field ran the whole course with Luke Dumper finishing strongly in 1st place. Adam Tofield also had a good run finishing in 2nd place followed by club members Paul Rowe, 3rd and Adam Holland in 4th postion. Emma Passmore again led the field home in the girls' event.
In the relays race the first leg established the leaders' positions with Nigel Jenkins competing for the first time in Tavistock colours running strongly to hand over to Jerry Rickeard just ahead of the Exmouth Harriers first leg runner.
Jerry held onto the lead until the last 100m when the Exmouth runner pulled ahead to give his team a 15- metre lead. On the 3rd leg Alisdair Hempenstall ran strongly but was unable to close the gap and passed to Richard Drage, running the anchor leg for Tavistock. Richard closed the gap to take the lead in the home straight, bringing the Tavistock team home in 1st place in a time of 21mins 36secs, only just outside the course record.
Behind the leading teams the Misfits had a good race with Steve Groombridge making a welcome return to the running scene. Steve, with Adam Musgrave, Adam Holland and Will Bates making up the team, ran well to finish in 4th in a time of 23mins 29secs winning the 3rd senior men's team trophy.
The Runners 'R' Us team made up of Tavistock AC junior members Adam Tofield, Paul Rowe, Jimmy Hubbard and Luke Dumper also ran well to finish in overall 9th place in 25mins 33secs.
The Tavistock College staff were well represented with Crispin Chambers, Lee Underhay, Peter Trainer and Karen Ballentyne team finishing in 11th place in 26mins 10secs. They were closely followed by the Tavistock Hockey club team consisting of John Barratt, Fiona Dunn, Phil Honey and Rob Kirby in 26mins 13secs in 12th place.
Allan Herdman, Chris Corden, Chris Ricketts and John Outhwaite, running for the Stannary Hash as the Harry's Hareraisers team, finished in 14th place in 26mins 27secs winning the 1st local men's team trophy. This was a significant win for the Stannary Hash having won the trophy for three years running.
The next local team to finish were the Gooners made up of David Rowe, Phil Worth, David Sterne and Julian Blake in 16th in 29mins 13secs. Frances McKinnon, Rachel Short, Katrine Green and Nicky Blamey running as Tavistock Ladies were the second ladies' team to finish in 18th place in a time of 29mins 38secs winning the 1st ladies' team trophy.
The Tavistock Jogging Club were well represented with Ottilia Pochat, Sarah Aspen, Karen Barratt and Karen Wood running as the Jolly Joggers finishing in 22nd place in a time of 33mins 55secs, Antonia Gould, Lizzie Cook, Babette Jackson and Raul Pochat running as the Puffin Plodders finishing in 23rd place in 35mins 02secs and Carole Edwards, Caroline Alford, Nikky Sheenan and Sally Hubbard running as Steve's Fun Mums finishing in 24th place in 41mins 45secs.