TOP Tavistock AC athlete Jim Cole must have wished that November would never end after putting together a string of outstanding personal performances across the South of England throughout the month.

After claiming four consecutive victories across Cornwall in late summer and early autumn, and running an outstanding 70-minute half-marathon in Nottingham for a personal best and club record, he was clearly hitting some of the best form of his career to date.

November started with a key role in Tavistock AC's first senior team victory of the Brooks Westward Cross Country League season at Exmouth . Only a week later, a third place in the Wiltshire 10K road race in Chippenham meant Cole was also part of the victorious Devon Team which emphatically took the South West Counties 10K Championship.

With a few days training to sharpen his speed, the following Sunday meant another long trip — this time he was on the start line at Brighton for one of the biggest 10K races on the south coast. After sitting with the chasing pack for the first part of the race, his strength was evident as the pack broke apart and he moved through to finish in a superb sixth position in 31mins 28secs, shattering his personal best by almost a minute.

Sunday 23rd saw him returning to Wiltshire for the inaugural Swindon 10K. Extreme winds prevented him from improving on his Brighton time, eventually missing out by only a half-minute, but leaving a large field of runners in his wake with an emphatic victory margin of just under three minutes!

Last Friday night produced a trophy of a different sort. At the Tavistock AC annual presentation evening his clubmates rewarded him with the award for the outstanding male runner of the past 12 months.

But Cole was not to let another November Sunday pass him by. On the last day of the month he completed a fabulous run of results by returning to the scene of his first November race. Over the ten miles of challenging off-road terrain which makes up the Bicton Blister Race, Jim again left his rivals floundering in his wake by cruising to another victory, this time by almost two minutes.

How to follow that? Next stop Exeter for the Devon Cross Country Championships on the first Sunday in December. As well as individual glory, he is hoping to lead his club to team victory in the Blue Riband event, the senior men's race, returning the County Team Championship to Tavistock for the first time in three years.