THE second fixture of this season’s Frank Elford Sports Westward Cross Country league took on an added element in Newquay on Sunday as it incorporated the Cornwall County Championships.

The day offered runners the chance to qualify for county representation in the national event in early 2016 as well as the usual league competition. After several days of extreme wet, the Newquay course provided soft but useable conditions, with racing only hampered by the strong Atlantic winds.

The Under-13 girls started the day off with a longer than usual run over the hilly, twisty course. First to finish for Tavistock, and attain county qualification was Tilly McDowell eighth. In a close fought battle, Lucy Steven was 24th, just ahead of team mates Alice Bickley 27th and Charlotte Harris 30th.

The U13 boys followed soon after and Tavistock’s Oliver Woodmason ran a tactical race to finish strongly in eighth. Behind him, there was little to chose between Dan Luckham and Joe Dix in 18th and 20th, nearly matched by Dan Mercer, who put in a fine performance to finish 23rd with Evan Ord close behind in 30th.

The top Tavistock performance came in the mixed senior ladies and U17s men and women’s race with a massive entry of up to 150 runners. Here, Tavistock had their first county champion of the day when the in-form Tess Masselink took not only the Cornish U20’s title, but narrowly missed out on overall ladies’ victory on the final lap to GB international Emma Steptoe.

First U17 man was Henry Ware, running well in 26th, followed by U17 lady Victoria Moore 33rd; Caroline Steven was 60th, Jenny Sabine 88th and Lisa Mabey in 106th.

In separate U11 races, Ella Shaw was the leading Tavistock girl in 17th, ahead of Emma Luckham 20th, Sara Hickman 26th and Amelia Woodmason 31st.

In his first race of the season, James Lamb showed fine form to take a superb sixth with Ewan Dix in 19th.

Despite the disappointment of not fielding the required three runners for a team, Tavistock’s two representatives in the U15 firl’s race put on a masterly display of tactical racing.

Natasha Farrington and Sarah Bull moved steadily through the slowing front runners as the race progressed. Natasha finished in a strong third place with Sarah coming through to take sixth.

For the finale of the senior men’s race the wind blew harder and the rain started.

A depleted Tavistock squad fought their battles further down the field. Despite this, the leading runner, Martin Exley-Deane was rewarded for his battling run in 99th with the gold medal as the first Cornish runner in the over-55 category.

A close-fought battle behind saw Richard Best in 106th, just hold off Dave Harris, 108th, and Tony Symons 109th, with the team completed by Matt Luckham in 139th.