THE first of the Westward League cross-country meetings was held earlier this month. Conditions were dry and firm with warm sunshine.
Tavistock Athletic Club were well represented with a strong contingent of runners. In the first race of the day the U17 men were running with the senior ladies and the club fielded a record six runners in this category.
Despite a summer beset by injury Tom Gill stamped his authority on the race and led from the early stages. He won the race to record maximum points for the club followed by Tom Lawson who was clearly not at his best finishing in a strong fourth place.
Will Sharp, running in his first Westward League, also had an excellent race finishing in sixth position. Nick Champion, running for the first time as an U17, finished in seventh place, followed by Matt McNamara-Waddington in 13th and Owen Drage in 22nd position.
This overall excellent performance moved the Tavistock club into first place in the team event for this category.
In the U17 ladies' race, Rebecca Windemer was the sole Tavistock runner and finished in overall 28th position.
In the U13 boys' race both Seth McNamara-Waddington and Peter Jarman were making debut appearances in the league. Both ran well to finish in 18th and 23rd positions respectively.
In the U13 girls' race Emma Champion was the only Tavistock athlete but had a good run to record her best ever finish in the league in seventh place.
In the U15 boys' race George Speke was disappointed in his running finishing in 13th position with Ben Brown in 17th and Sam Lloyd coming home in 22nd place.
In the final race of the day in the U15 girls' the reliable pairing of Claire Fraser and Sarah Hornby were representing Tavistock having moved up into the age group. Both girls ran strongly with Claire finishing in third place and Sarah finishing in tenth.