BRISTOL Half Marathon is one of the South-West's most prestigious road races, and among the 15,000 competitors on the start-line was Tavistock Athletic Club's Jim Cole.

Jim is a supremely fit athlete and always races strongly but perhaps even he was surprised to find himself gaining one of the best results in the club's history.

The race had a new course for this year, both flatter and faster.

The weather was dry and sunny with a bit of a breeze, so course and conditions were very near-ideal for runners to gain a good time.

The race attracts elite athletes from all over the world, and, for the second year in succession, Kenyan athlete Edwin Kipyego won, in a time of 1hour, 3minutes, 20 seconds.

Jim took just slightly over six minutes longer to run the 13.1miles, and finished in 1.09.33, in 18th place. A truly excellent result.

By contrast, on the same day nearer home, the Ivybridge Beacon Challenge, organised by Erme Valley Harriers, was a smaller event with 64 finishers.

Four fast runners from the the Club's Coe and Bedford groups competed.

All were to finish within the third of the field, earning them the race's team prize.

The Challenge is a scenic but testing multi-terrain race over approximately 8 miles, set on woodland and moorland paths with a long climb up to the town's Western Beacon.

Tony Symons once again excelled to finish second and winning his M50 age category in 55.52.

Third in the same group, finishing sixth overall in 58.40 was Martin Exley.

Next home was Steve Groombridge, winning the M55 age group in eleventh place in 1.01.29, with Pete Bazley finishing in 20th place overall and second in the same age category in 1.08.33.

Whatever your speed, the club always welcomes new members. TAC meets at 6.15 on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at Tavistock College.

Please look at the website: http://www.tavistockathletics.com">www.tavistockathletics.com or telephone 01822 612577 for more information.