TAVISTOCK Athletic Club held their Christmas Handicap on the last Sunday of December. Fittingly for this final event of such a successful year for the club a record field of 60 runners turned out.

The field was swelled by a good turnout of Tavistock Joggers, most of whom were participating in the event for the first time. The cold conditions suited most although there were some icy in patches on the four-mile course.

The staggered start based on a 46-minute finish time saw the last runner leaving with a 22-minute handicap. The firsr runner home in an actual time of 35.46mins was Tom Worth, reflecting an improvement of five minutes on his previous year's time. Reece Worth finished second with Graham Shillabeer third.

The juniors took the main honours with Bethan Shillabeer winning the female event finishing in overall fourth in a good time of 37.21mins. The second lady was Lorraine Tofield finishing in overall seventh with Anna Johnson finishing as third lady in overall eleventh place.

Llew Jones maintained his record of running in every handicap in the history of the event with a good sixth place in a time of 38.47mins. The fastest time was recorded by Richard Drage who finished 17th with a time of 22.47mins with Steve Groombridge finishing 20th, running the second fastest time in 23.57mins.

Tavistock Athletic Club train on Tuesdays at Tavistock College from 6pm for all age groups and at the Alexander Centre on Thursdays from 6.15pm (seniors only). Anyone interested in running is welcome to come along.