IN a joint club outing to the 2007 Cardiff half marathon, 20 runners from Tavistock Athletic Club and Bere Alston Trekkers headed to Wales on Saturday for an early start on Sunday morning. The course started near Cardiff Castle and made its way through the city centre before heading into Cardiff Bay. After turning at the end of the barrage, the runners made their way back along the River Taff and into Sophia Gardens/Bute Park before the spectacular finish inside the castle. The cool, overcast conditions, combined with a flat course always made good times likely for the entry of 8,000. The West Devon finishers were led in by Tavistock veteran Tony Symons in 27th place with a 78min 14 sec personal best. Colleagues Chris Eastaugh (1hour 24 minutes 48 seconds) and Ross Shaddick (1hr 24m 54s) followed closely behind, narrowly missing the top 100 finishes. David Twine achieved the next PB, clocking 1hr 33m 45s in the over 50s and only 24 seconds behind Wally Lake. Coach driver Pete Bazley returned to fitness with 1hr 36m 10s to just hold off Martin Gibbs with another PB in 1h 36m 13s. Paul Marshall, Simon Wakeham, Richard Windemer, Keith Bowles and Pete Searle all beat 1h 50m. Finally Marion Playle guided club-mate Rebecca Sargent to another PB in 2hr 9m to round off some fine performances from Tavistock and a fitting end to a superb outing. Not to be outdone, there were equally fine performances from the Bere Alston Trekkers also running at Cardiff. For all Bats taking part it was their first time in Cardiff. However, for one Bat it was her debut half marathon. Sue Catto has worked hard over recent months and achieved her desired finish time at the event. First Bat home was Laurence Sargeant who was also 11th in his age room and ran a great time. First lady home was Pam Adams who equalled her time at the Great North Run two weeks ago. Mary Sargeant was eighth in her age group. All Bats finished with excellent times.