GLORIOUS weather on Sunday greeted the 10 runners from Tavistock Athletic Club who gathered on Plymouth Hoe to tackle the annual Plymouth Half Marathon.

The annual race is one of the biggest participant events in Devon, with around 4,000 runners taking part. The course runs on closed to traffic roads. Starting on the iconic Hoe, before winding through the historic Barbican, the route is packed with cheering spectators. Then runners cross the River Plym and head up the long steady climb to Elburton, before heading north towards Plympton.

Then as they near Plympton the runners take a welcome left turn into the beautiful Saltram House grounds. A couple of miles of downhill running on Saltram lanes takes the runners back to the Plym embankment before heading back into town and through the Barbican and heading up the sting-in-the-tail hill to get pack onto the packed Hoe where runners are cheered across the line.

First home for Tavy AC was Richard Best in a splendid 1 hour 32 minutes 25 seconds. Graham De Val kindly supported club athlete Jessica Williams who is in training for her first ultra marathon, gaining a finishing time of 1.46.24 (a new personal best for Jessica). Just a minute behind was Nicole Heryet in a steady 1.47.30. Lisa Maybe, carrying an ankle injury, had a creditable run in 1.52.50. Club newcomer Mel Green was next home in 1.55.27. Lisa Base was close to her target time, finishing in 2.16.29. Caron De Val also was supporting a friend who got round in 2.27.37. Next home were Anita Cawley and Carmel Nye who were both making their debuts at a half marathon and ran a superb excellent 2.30.31.

n TWO Tavistock athletes made the long journey north for what is becoming an increasingly popular marathon. Jason Shipton and Pete Bazeley competed with 8,000 others over the Manchester Marathon course on Sunday.

Both runners ran well in hot conditions with Jason finishing 2,607th in a time of 3 hours 39 minutes 38 seconds and Pete finishing 2,880th in a time of 3.43.30.

Both runners, who are keen Manchester United fans, were delighted that the race had the ultimate finish for them outside the iconic Old Trafford Stadium.