TAVISTOCK Athletic Club team manager Shane Wonnacott was painting the town red and decorating his mantelpiece with trophies on Sunday as his junior team romped to victory in the Devon Sportshall League.

This looked destined to happen after the third of the five meetings back in January, but victory still came sweetly to Shane and the his team of youngsters who travelled the 50 miles to Dawlish on Sunday for what was a glorious victory parade.

There were, again, many fine results: 15 winners in the various events and 8 new club records. But medals and trophies were handed out for the overall series achievements and many of them found their way back to Tavistock.

With a record breaking total of 3,813 points, Tavistock won the overall team prize, leaving North Devon well behind in second place with 2616 and even further behind Exeter, last year?s winners, third with 2,516.

This is the second time Tavistock have taken this trophy and it is a remarkable achievement for the club.

The age group categories produced the following medals in the series:

Gold: U13 boys, U15 girls. Silver: U10 boys; U11 boys; u15 boys; U17 boys; U17 girls. Bronze: U10 girls; U13 girls.

This amounts to nine medals in the ten categories.

Individual medals were awarded to the following for their success in the series:

Gold: Matthew McClung, U10, 1 lap hurdles and speed bounce; Sophie Bassett, U10, sitting throw; Charlotte Herdman, U10, vertical jump; Chloe Bassett, U13, 6 laps; Richard Stephens, U13, vertical jump; Kathryn Dolton, U15, high jump; Matthew Drage, U15, high jump; Matthew Allen, U15, triple jump; Louise Elsworth, U17, 2 lap hurdles, 2 laps and 4 laps; Adam Holland, U17, 2 lap hurdles.

Silver: Ben Cunniff, U10, javelin; Hannah Smith, U10, sitting throw; Nick Champion, U11, 2 lap hurdles; Hannah Holland, u11, javelin; Chris Hoar, U11, sitting throw; Vicky Smith, U13, 2 lap hurdles; Matt Boon, U13, 2 lap hurdles; Richard Stephens, U13, 2 laps; Laura Aspen, U13, 4 laps and 6 laps; Nathan Wonnacott, U13, 6 laps and speed bounce; Owen Drage, U13, high jump; Richard Stephens, U13, shot putt; Harry Wyatt, U15, 2 laps; Suzy Blandford, U15, 6 laps; Matthew Drage, U15, speed bounce; Kathryn Dolton, U15, triple jump; Matthew Allen, U15, vertical jump; Adam Holland, U17, 4 laps.

Bronze: Charlotte Herdman, U10, 1 lap and 2 laps; Peter Page, U10, javelin; Sophie Bassett, U10, long jump; Taylor McCormack, U11, 2 lap hurdles, 2 laps and sitting throw; Nick Champion, U11, 4 laps; Rebecca Stephens, U11, javelin and sitting throw; Nathan Rowe, U13, 2 lap hurdles and 4 laps; Alex Smith, U13, 4 laps; Matt McNamara, U13, high jump; Owen Drage, U13, long jump and triple jump; Fran Gould, U13, speed bounce and vertical jump; James Halliday, U13, speed bounce; Chloe Bassett, U13, triple jump; Harry Wyatt, U15, 2 lap hurdles; Bethan Shillabeer, U15, 2 laps and speed bounce; Suzy Blandford, U15, 4 laps; Kayleigh Wonnacott, u15, 6 laps; Matthew Drage, U15, shot putt; Adam Holland, U17, vertical jump.

Meanwhile, up on the north coast, 26 club members were competing in the popular Bideford Half Marathon.

This was the second Club Grand Prix event of the new year and many of the Tavistock contingent had trained towards this race. This event also served as the County Half Marathon Championship so there were county honours at stake.

County medals went to Steve Groombridge, running for Exmouth but also a Tavistock member, who finished superbly in 20th place and second in his M45 category, Mike Lewis, who earned a silver medal in the M55 and Keith Bowles, third in the same age group as Mike. Anne Lake was gold medallist in the F50 race with Annette Roberts picking up a bronze in the F45.

Full results for the Tavistock athletes are: 20, Steve Groombridge, 1:20:10; 151, Michael Lewis, 1:34:03; 171, Peter Bazeley, 1:35:28; 223, Rob Kirby, 1:38:40; 224, Fiona Dunn, 1:38:40; 242, Chris Halliday, 1:40:08; 263, Keith Bowles, 1:42:24; 353, Annette Roberts, 1:49:54; 372, Trevor Williams, 1:51:15; 424, Adrian Bower, 1:56:05; 456, Sally Pike, 1:58:29; 463, Anne Lake, 1:59:07; 469, Roger Downing, 1:59:41; 487, Robert Dawe, 2:01:31; 488, Robert Dawe, 2:01:31; 492, Caroline Alford, 2:02:15; 494, Steve Fraquet, 2:02:15; 497, Anna Johnson, 2:02:53; 502, Marie Larvin, 2:04:10; 517, Marion Playle, 2:05:57; 531, Michael Youlden, 2:09:05; 535, Hazel Walker, 2:09:38; 548, Carole Edwards, 2:14:06; 550, Rhian Johnson, 2:14:56; 562, Judi Turner, 2:17:10; 577, Helen Bond, 2:21:07.

l In the Inter-County Cross Country Championships held in Nottingham last Saturday Tavistock?s four athletes all did themselves and their counties proud.

Alex Richards came 108th in the U15 race and Adam Holland finished in 152nd place in the U17s. Seniors Richard Drage and Martin Exley finished in 207th and 229th respectively in their event.

Former Tavistock athlete Emerson Combstock, running for Warwickshire, came in 134th and another local favourite, Joe Kelsey, representing Surrey, finished 42nd in the senior women?s race.