TAVISTOCK Athletic Club took part in the final fixture in the Frank Elford Westward Cross Country League on Saturday.

Held at Redruth School in Cornwall the runners were greeted with excellent conditions. The league, which has been running for more than 40 years, is stronger than ever with nearly all the clubs in Devon and Cornwall taking part as well as Taunton from Somerset.

TAC were well represented with 30 athletes making the trip. In the U13 boys Nicolas Maczugowski had an excellent run to finish fourth on the day (giving him sixth in the league), Edward Sorenson was seventh and Oscar Slater 13th. In the girls’ race Emma Luckham had a gutsy run to finish fifth, which also gave her sixth in the league; Liberty Cappes was next home in eight and Lara Dix ran well to finish 10th.

The next race was going to be crucial for deciding some league podium places – it was the U17 mens’ and senior ladies’ race combined. Michael Barton came home in seventh, which again led to another sixth final league place. In the ladies’ race Sam Lake was first home for TAC in 10th, giving her seventh overall in a tough league and also securing her victory in the veteran 35 category. Next in was Jenny Sabine with a strong run to get her highest place of the season in 24th; Tracey Oxborough was 35th, just 10 seconds ahead of Cathy Dunlop in 37th. Tracey gained silver for all her stirling work through the season. Emma Dooney ran well despite setting a pb the previous weekend at Reading Half marathon to finish 45th and Kate Rogers finished in 57th. Strong team performances gave the ladies team fifth overall and a superb second place overall in the ladies’ veteran category.

The next race was the girls U13 with Krystina Cade having another strong run following her Westward Ho! run to finish sixth on the day and ninth in the league. Isabel Nichol-Garcia was 15th and Rosie Warren 16th to support the team in getting third but most importantly securing third overall in the league.

The TAC U13 boys had a depleted team due to injury, Jacob Holland made an excellent debut in the category and supported the Tavistock runners really well with his 15th place. Ahead of him was Joe Dix in 11th and William Russell in a superb fifth. The boys secured bronze overall for the league and Euan Botham was fourth in the league, Joe Dix 10th, Dan Luckham 14th.

Senior men were next off and Tavistock’s strength in depth shone, with 10 runners taking part. Jim Cole led the team home in fourth overall, which gave him personal silver for the league season, one of his most consistent seasons ever. Will Dax, still on the comeback trail after a long layoff was next in 23rd, a strong Paul Hegarty in 32nd (fourth overall in his V45 category); Martin Exley-Deane 41st to secure gold in his V55 category with six straight wins, Steve Watson had his strongest run of the season in 53rd, and then a pack of Joe Chalk (64th), Phil Slater (65th), Dave Harris (69th) before Richard Harris 69th and Bob Chapman 79th came home. Bob secured the silver veteran 65 league position with his run. Senior men finished a creditable seventh in the league and fifth in the veterans’ league.

The final race of the day for the Tavistock club was the U15 boys (there were no U15 girls running), where Jacob Hegarty was the lone TAC runner but he did the club proud with his eighth place and helped throughout the season as they secured a team silver.

TAC club chair Martin Exley-Deane said: ‘It has been one of the toughest seasons ever in the league but the club faired really well with four team medals and five individual medals. To be awarded the senior trophy of the year shows the commitment, spirit, support and fun the club has in the cross country league and other events.’