THE South of England Veterans? Track and Field Championships were staged at Exeter Arena recently and included a full track and field programme, over two days of competition. Three members of Tavistock Athletic Club took advantage of the short journey to Exeter and were rewarded by winning no fewer than five medals between them. Steve Groombridge competing in the M50 age category ran both the 1500m and 5000m. Competing for the first time ever over these distances on the track, Steve ran exceptionally well to win silver medals in both events. He ran times of 4mins 42.28secs for the 1500m and 17mins 18.58secs for the 5000m. These times would have been good enough for top five placings in the recent British Masters? Track and Field Championships in Birmingham. Allan Herdman, also in the M50 age category, competed in the 400m. Allan produced a blistering second half of the race to out sprint his rivals to win the gold medal in a time of 58.57secs. This was only just outside his new personal best of 58.1secs which was set at the Brickfields track in Plymouth in July. Competing in the younger M45 age group Richard Drage ran in the 1500m and 5000m. Richard ran his fastest times of the season to win both the 1500m in 4mins 25.89secs and the 5000m in 16mins 19.58secs. The next major veterans? races are the British Masters? 10k Road Championships being held in Motherwell in September. Athletes from Tavistock Athletic Club are planning the long trip to compete in these championships.