THE second of two fell races was held on the evening of August 15 in very difficult conditions.

The event, jointly hosted by Tavistock Athletic Club and Tamar Trail Runners, was hampered by tough conditions for the runners. However, this did not stop an even bigger field of entrants from all over the South West.

The races started with the U9/U11 races. First U9 boy was Isaac Lamerton; first U9 girl Orla White TAC; first U11 boy Fred Shearer; first U11 girl Lara Dix TAC; Megan Price from Plymouth Tri Club was the only entrant who completing the full course of two kilometres and 90metres of ascent.

The senior race attracted a large entry but rapidly descending mist made the navigation challenging for most runners. The route took the runners around Pew Tor, past Vixen Tor to ascend the rocky slopes towards Middle Staples Tors, then across to Cox Tor before turning south back to Pew Tor. However, low visibility proved challenging for runners to spot markers and find the best paths along the 8.7km route with 320metres of ascent.

The senior race was hotly contested, with two clear front runners setting the pace — Adam Holland of TAC and Olly Smart from Tavistock Run Project, with the former having just returned from his epic adventures of 10, sub three hourr marathons in 10 days. It was Olly Smart who edged on the fast descent finish from Pew Tor winning by a few seconds in time of 41 minutes 01 seconds; second, Adam Holland; 3, James Jackson, Dartmoor Runners. The first woman home was Marie Faithful from Exeter Tri Club, who finishing 10th overall.

There were some great local performances with Alice Rogers second lady, Tilly McDowell TAC third lady and U17 winner; James Best TAC sixth; Martin Exley-Deane TAC seventh and first veteran 50; Dylan Wood first U19 with Jason Blake second.

Richard Best, the race director, said: ‘The interest in the event was amazing – so good to see so many clubs represented and in the younger age groups there was some brilliant performances. The younger runners in the seniors’ race with Olly Stamp of TRP leading the way but also three of the top six under 23 years-old made a good showing.

‘The conditions clearly made this a difficult to navigate event and saw some brilliant team spirit from runners who in a few cases joined up to guide people to the finish. A huge thanks to helpers, marshals, landowners, Dartmoor National Park and Fell Running Association for making the event possible.’