It was an extremely busy week for Tavistock Athletic Club, with runners competing in races taking place in Plymouth, Exeter, Bideford, Bristol and Richmond Park.
On Tuesday, a select group took part in the second of the Run Exe 5k series – a flat and fast course making good times and PBs a real prospect.
TAC life member Adam Holland pulled out all the stops to achieve 3rd place with a remarkable time of 15min 56s. Charlotte Walker, an under-20 runner, also excelled by winning the ladies race in 17:49, just a few seconds from an outright PB for the distance.
Close behind, and taking first place in the M65 category, was Richard Drage in 18:21 with Mark West close on his heels finishing in 18:35. Hazel Walker completed in 27:15 and daughter Hannah Walker, a TAC member but running for Exeter University, came home in a great 20:45.
On Sunday, Run Plymouth held their annual Ocean City Running Festival - including half marathon, 10k and 10k races around the closed streets of Plymouth. The runners unfortunately had to endure rain throughout but spirits were un-dampened.
In the half marathon, Grant Harvey ran a great race, to finish in 23rd place overall in a time of 1:20:42. Nikki Kelly and Hannah Smith also completed in under 90mins, recording times of 1:26:38 and 1:27:19 respectively.
Following were Padraig Moyna, 1:40:34; Katherine Steer, 1:44:19; Katy Kelly, 2:02:16; Maarit Green, 2:24:15 and Ann Ruddock, 2:36:56.
In the 10k race, Jean Phillips finished in 1:00:02 and Darren Fisher in 1:15:09, whilst in the 5k event, Jack Anthony, a junior runner, completed in 19:59 followed by fellow juniors James Anthony in 24:48 and Harriet Silvester in 25:20.
Runners in the annual Bideford 10k race got luckier with the weather, fluking a dry race throughout. Tony Shearer came home in 52:13, followed Lucy Hann who was just under the hour in a personal best time of 59:03.
In Bristol, two ran the AJ Bell Great Bristol half marathon - Hannah Worth crossed the line in a commendable 1:33:12 and Alfie McIntosh in 1:28:54.
Finally, Adam Holland had another busy week. After the Run Exe race, and breaking the age category record at the Saturday's Riverfront Parkrun in Newport, he then took on the Run Richmond Park half marathon, winning the race outright from 193 runners, in a time of 1:18:02.
