Three athletes from Tavistock Athletic Club (TAC) travelled up to Cardiff for Sunday’s Oysho Half Marathon.

It’s a must-run event for many runners as it is the only British half marathon amongst the six prestigious ‘Super Halfs’, and is known for its impressive crowd support and music throughout its 13.1 mile distance.

TAC runners Mark West and Ian Collacott decided to make use of the event as part of their longer run training. Impressively, they added a 5km run to both ends of the half marathon distance to get some endurance fitness.

In spite of that, and running together, they they completed the formal event in an impressive time of 1hour 31min 58sec which placed them high up in their individual age categories.

Ian finished 162nd out of 1,645 runners in his M40 category, and Mark 64th out of 1,249 in his M50 category.

A little further behind was Andy Hughes, completing in 2:21:35, 143rd from 207 in his M65 category.

On a mostly flat course, the route started and finished at Cardiff Castle and included running round the barrage around Cardiff Bay as a particular highlight.

After the storms of the day before, which led to the cancellation of the junior event, Sunday dawned calm, warm and bright for the half marathon.

Participants enjoyed perfect conditions, running mostly in sun with a light cooling wind.

Nearly 25,000 completed the course which caused considerable congestion at the mass start for those wanting to drop off their kit bags (for collection at the finish) and use the facilities.

Elsewhere on the same day, TAC life member Adam Holland took part in the MBNA Cheshire marathon. He finished in a time of 2:42:58, 44th out of 6,698 finishers.