Tavistock AC travelled to Westward Ho! to take part in the fourth round of the Westward Cross Country League on Sunday, writes Alistair Peers.

The club’s athletes have run well all season and their good form continued at the challenging North Devon course. 

Team of the day was arguably the Under-15 boys. Fynn Baker took his first-ever Westward League victory, backed up by the ever-improving Noah Reid and Ollie Houlberg, who were fifth and seventh respectively – all three combined for a brilliant team score.

Tom Cocker also ran well and showed his progress by finishing in a season’s best 13th position. It is great to see these friends embracing the team aspect of cross country and they have a great chance of winning the league this year. 

The other outstanding TAC team was the senior ladies. They went into the race full of confidence having won the Devon Championships last month.

The scoring team of Jo Meek (third), Nikki Kelly (fourth), Jasmine Gray and Sam Lake all finished in the top 10. Nikki and Sam were particularly courageous as they both fell during the race but bounced straight back up and finished strongly.

Highlighting the course’s difficult nature, Nikki ‘fell face first in a ditch of freeing water,’ and Sam said ‘I can only describe the weather and run as brutal.

‘Ditches, bogs, floods, huge water crossings, mud, mud and more mud!’

It sounds horrendous but this challenge is part of the appeal of cross country and everyone from the club can rightly feel proud of their efforts this afternoon.

Other athletes who deserve special mention are Miri Crossey and Freya Page. Miri showed great determination in the Under-13 girls race and achieved her best-ever result. Freya has been training with consistency and enthusiasm in the last few months. She was rewarded for her efforts with an excellent position, her improvement being highlighted by the fact she beat some older athletes who were a couple of minutes ahead of her in the opening race of the season in October.

Ben Neale achieved another top-10 position and his senior male colleagues all did well in their age categories. Before the race Marc Curtis was third v50 and Dave Harris second v55. Both are great club men who represent TAC in every fixture and will fully deserve any medals they get at the end of the campaign.

Next Saturday, the juniors will be competing in the Devon Schools Cross-country Championships. The seniors will be having a well deserved break, training sensibly and looking forward to the next round of the Westward League which is in Plymouth in four weeks’ time.

Results:

U13 girls: Suzie Woodrow, 12th; Mirianthi Crossey, 13th.

U13 boys and U15 girls: Thomas Hennessey, 6th; Freddie Whybrow, 12th; Archie Neale, 19th; Anya McAulay, 23rd; Claudia Jones, 26th; Ollie Thomson, 33rd; Tamsyn Reid, 36th.

U15 boys: Fynn Baker, 1st; Noah Reid, 5th; Ollie Houlberg, 7th; Tom Cocker, 13th.

Senior women and U17 boys and girls: Jo Meek, 8th (3rd woman); Nikki Kelly, 9th (4th woman); Jasmine Gray, 13th; Sam Lake, 16th; Freya Page, 29th; Hannah Worth, 32th; Jenny Jeeves, 33rd; Caroline Steven, 38th; James Crossey, 43rd; Rachel Jones, 62nd; Anna Kelly, 66th.

Senior men: Ben Neale, 9th; Alistair Peers, 49th; Marc Curtis, 67th; Joe Chalk, 68th; Martin Exley-Deane, 76th; Dave Harris, 84th.