TAVISTOCK Athletics Club ended another cross country season with some creditable performances in the final fixture of the Brooks Westward League at Redruth on Sunday. The senior men went into the fixture with a narrow lead over Cornwall AC, but since the loss of their top athlete, Jim Cole, in December following a serious horse-riding injury, their Cornish rivals had taken the upper hand, with Tavistock unable to hit the form they showed in the three pre-Christmas races. The Tavistock squad started the five lap race on a fast, mainly flat, course as second favourites. Despite missing Cole, and the absent Pete Freedman, all five counting athletes secured positions in the top 21 finishers. First home was the season's biggest success story, 18 year old Tom Gill. A regular top 10 finisher in his first senior season since moving up as U17s' champion, Tom has regularly proven his quality and will be a force in coming seasons. On the day Tom faded as the race progressed to finish 14th. Close behind in 15th was England veteran international, Richard Drage, securing a full set of victories in his 50+ age-group to take this honour. Drage was followed in 17th by Tony Symons, who finished strongly following an early battle with team-mates Chris Champion and Martin Exley. A sustained effort in the final run-in saw birthday-boy Exley overcome his club-mate in the final strides to decide 20th and 21st places. Despite their best efforts, three top 10 finishes from Cornwall decided the day and the league in favour of last year's champions. Steve Groombridge's 29th place meant that with Drage, Symons and Champion, runners-up position in the veteran team championship went to Tavistock also, again losing out to Cornwall AC. Youngsters Reuben Grice and Owen Drage had their best finishes of the season in 38th and 42nd places with Richard Best in 60th. Peter Bazley raised the biggest cheers of the day as he trailed in 66th. Special mention should go to local 60+ veteran Bob Chapman. Running for the Royal Navy, Bob again triumphed in every fixture to take his age-group honours. In the senior ladies, the two Rebeccas, Windemer and Deane made it to the start line. Tavistock ended up in fourth and there was a fine season for the U17 Windemer who finished 31st on the day, with Deane 50th. In the U15s' girls race Claire Fraser trailed in fourth but fought back to achieve a top three position — her best result of the season. In the U15s' boys race Tavistock again fielded only one runner with James Best finishing in 13th although the team had already secured third place in their championship. Absence from the U17s race did not stop the impressive Brennan Townsend from taking third in the individual championship.