A FULL colony of Bats (Bere Alston Trekkers) last Wednesday swapped their trainers and shorts for frocks, lipsticks and fancy shirts for the annual presentation evening. The past 12 months has seen Bats go from strength to strength with the number of races they have competed in, the level of training achieved and monies raised for charity. The year kicked off with hard training in preparation for Dotty Allan and Samantha Marshall?s efforts for the London Marathon in April ? the training included 20-mile Sunday runs as well as competing in some benchmark races such as the Plymouth Hoe 10 and the Bideford half marathon. Once the marathon was out of the way it was onto the Plymouth half marathon, followed by Race for Life, numerous 10km road races and into summer training in preparation for the Great North Run (run by Sam, Pam and Dave) and the Cardiff half marathon (run by Dotty, Samantha, Pam, Mary and Laurence Sargeant and Sue Catto). The Bats also celebrated their first wedding with club member Samantha marrying Tavistock Athletic Club member Paul Marshall in August. The biggest race of the year was, once again, the Tavy Seven where 18 members competed in November. There were a number of trophies presented on the night ? these were: Newcomer female, Bridget MacDonald; Newcomer male, Dave Adams; club member of the year: Sam Marshall; club improver of the year, Kathy Williams and Sue Catto and the most coveted award athlete of the year awarded to Jane Page. Dotty Allan was presented with a beautiful bouquet of club coloured flowers as well as some gratefully received theatre ticket vouchers. Club chair Dotty Allan said: ?I would like to say well done to all much deserving trophy winners and all members of the club who work very hard all year round, and a big thank you to friends, families, villagers and the members of both Bats and Tavistock Athletic Club for their continued support of the club.? l Pictured above are trophy winners and other club members enjoying their presentation evening at Monterey Jacks in Tavistock.