Harriers do the double at Tavy 7!

To set the scene: imagine a remote, rugged, wet, windy and wild field in the middle of Dartmoor and, picture in it, a gathering of small white tents and marquees, a row of blue portaloos and 333 multi-coloured runners in various club and charity vests milling about and you have the Tavy 7! To set a date at the end of October for a race that is run out of a field a good 2 miles from the nearest form of civilisation (not including the resident sheep!) seems slightly bizarre, and yet, year on year, the Tavy 7 goes off without a hitch and offers runners one of the best organised races on the local running calendar and a superb value for money experience. The tents and portaloos even stood up to the wrath of the worst storm to hit the UK this year and only added to the experience of what is already an atmospheric and dramatic 7 mile moorland race.

This year the Harriers decided to target the race as a team as there were plenty of prizes on offer, with team awards for the top 3 men's and women's teams. Unfortunately, we did not quite manage to field a men's team, but we did have more than sufficient runners for a women's team and the journey across the moor in the wet and blustery conditions was by no means a wasted effort. Read on to find out why!

The first success for the Harriers came from Rob Orton. Continuing his rich vein of form of late, Rob stormed to an easy win in an amazing time, given the conditions, of 38:04. Rob won here last year too but this year managed to better his time by over a minute in tougher conditions. He was a comfortable winner with a margin of over 3 minutes.

I, Ellie Sutcliffe, then secured a double for the Harriers in winning the ladies event in a time of 44:36 in 15th place overall. This was also an improvement by over a minute on my winning time from 2011; however, I had to work hard for the victory as I trailed super-veteran athlete, Ann Luke from Tamar Trotters, for most of the race and only managed to get past her in the last half mile.

Our ladies team then packed in tight behind to gain valuable points towards the team competition and to claim some category podium places.

Hannah Bown was 37th overall and 5th lady in a time of 47:46 - just out-sprinted to 4th by Michelle Moore from South Devon AC. Hannah did, however, claim top spot in the vet 35 category - an age group she has only recently moved into and in which she will no doubt be seeing considerable success for some years now to come.

Terry Oldham was our next athlete home. Although the men lacked the 4th counter needed to field a full team, this didn't mean that Terry just coasted around on a nice Sunday afternoon jog across the moors. He raced the event to the best of his ability and posted a fine time of 53:26 for 5th spot in his MV55 category and 93rd overall, comfortably inside the top third of finishers.

Dave Eveleigh was the next Harrier home and was quite rightly pleased as punch with his performance as his time of 55:31 as it was a full 5 minutes faster than his time of the course set in 2011. Dave was 123rd overall and 7th MV55; however, it should be highlighted that he was very much at the top end of this category with a milestone birthday coming up in a couple of week's time. Things look very promising for Dave in 2014 and the other vet 60 year olds had better watch out if he keeps this vein of form up!

Terry's wife, Lorraine Gilson, and Dawn Teed, had another of their now legendary epic battles for the line. Although Dawn went out hard and looked to have this little duel sewn up, she had not bargained on Lorraine's endurance enabling her to claw her way back up to her friend, club mate and category rival towards the end of the race. In the end it was a tussle to the line and the two of them crossed it together, being given the same time of 56:52, but Lorraine was just given the nod over Dawn in terms of positions. This meant that they were 156th and 157th overall, so inside the top 50% of runners, and they placed 2nd and 3rd in the FV50 category respectively.

In terms of the female team placings, it was very tight as just two points seperated us from South Devon AC. But a win is a win and so our ladies team can add this accolade to a fast expanding list of team triumphs this year.

Well done to all the runners who braved the elements on Dartmoor. The fantastic array of reasonably priced cakes, bacon baps and teas and coffees that we indulged in after were highly deserved!

Team Tavy!