Tavistock athletes rapidly returned to top-level competition on the first Sunday of 2014. Killerton House near Exeter provided the venue for the South West Cross Country Champion-ships.

Conditions were wet with thick, deep mud and standing water in many places throughout the challenging course which also featured two steep and long hills.

The races, across all age-groups, included inter-county representative matches as well as individual competitions with teams from Wiltshire, Avon and Somerset as well as Devon and Cornwall. Numerous Tavistock athletes had been selected to run for Devon or Cornwall following fine performances in their County Championships at the end of 2013.

Races began with the U11 girls and Tilly McDowell showed great form to take eighth place and Tayla James finishing well in 22nd. In the boys' event, James Lamb and Leighton Howe had their own private battle before James managed to pip his team-mate by one second at the finish to take 24th place to Leighton's 25th.

The U13s' course of 3.1 kilometers included the largest hill. Representing Devon, Tavistock's Natasha Farrington finished in the top half of the field in 28th place. In the U13s boys race, Tom Brew challenged all the way to take a fine 16th place – with only three county runners beating him.

The U15 girls featured one of Tavistock's stars, with Sian Temple representing Cornwall. Despite being a year younger than most of the other front-runners, she produced an outstanding performance to take fourth place and help her county colleagues to second place in the team event.

The senior and U20 men raced next over a 9km distance which included tackling both the energy-sapping hills twice. James Best represented Devon in the U20s and was the first Tavistock athlete home in 34th, and a top-ten finisher in his age-group.

In the over-50's category, there was close competition with Tony Symons leading for a large part of the race before eventually finishing second (53rd overall) and Richard Drage third for Tavistock (66th overall). Fellow over-50, Richard Best came home 103rd place. Senior and U20s ladies competed over a 5.6 km distance and this race featured the top performance from a Tavistock representative. Representing Devon, Jo Meek showed the strength which is seeing her become a notable ultra-distance athlete as she powered through the mud to take a strong second place and help her Devon team finish as second county. In overall 30th place and sixth in the U20 age group, Alice Rogers was first to finish for the Cornish team. Representing the Cornish seniors, Caroline Steven finished in 39th.

In the U17 boys, covering the same 5.6km course as the ladies, Tavistock's Cornish champion Sam Lane de Courtin pushed himself to a valiant 12th place. Further down the field, the ever-improving Josh Blake finished 24th to finally beat his club-mate Will Dax by just over a minute.