THE final weekend of April saw Tavistock Athletic Club members competing in two races in the county.

The Haldon Heartbeat started at Exeter racecourse and took runners through Harcombe Forest along a mixture of forest roads and trails for 8.5 miles with 650 feet of height gain. Three TACs competed – father and son Mike and Harrison Baker and Peter Bazley. U17s' Harrison ran exceptionally well to finish in 13th place out of a field of nearly 200, in a time of 55 minutes 9 seconds, averaging six and a half minute miles on off-road terrain.

Mike was next to finish in 69th place in 1.04.31, while Pete finished just over a minute later coming second in his age category.

The following day, more than 3,000 runners took part in the 20th Plymouth Half Marathon, with an estimated 20,000 spectators lining the streets to cheer them on.

The day was cold and overcast with light winds, so near-perfect racing conditions. Ethiopia's Tadele Geremew won the race in a very fast 1.09.03, with TAC's Jim Cole less than 90 seconds behind him as he finished second in a superb 1.10.25, giving him an average pace of 5.37mins/mile.

Heather Fell, the Olympic modern pentathlete silver medalist was second club member to the finish in 1.27.42 and in 53rd place with Allan Herdman just three minutes behind, winning his age category in 1.30.54.

Jason Shipman was one of the many athletes competing in fancy dress and raising funds for causes close to their hearts. Jason was running for the Monkey Sanctuary in Looe and so was dressed in a monkey outfit. Nevertheless, he finished in a very creditable 1.36.19.

Graham De Val and Paul Waldron were competing in their second half marathon of the year and finished in 1.44.53 and 1.50.24 respectively, while Caron De Val brought the TAC contingent home in 2.11.58.