A change of course is nothing new to the Bermuda Half Marathon Derby, but a new route from St George’s to Bernard Park next year is generating great excitement among both competitors and spectators, just as the dust settles on the 2014 race.

Dr Gina Tucker, the president of the Marathon Derby committee, is pleased with the way the race went from an organising standpoint, as hundreds made their way from Somerset to Bernard Park on Monday. Now the focus will switch to a new east end course for the first time since 1976.

“Of course we are always looking for ways to improve and do better and everybody is pumped up about next year already and that’s so cool,” Tucker said.

“We have a good year to pull together what I believe will be one of the most remarkable events, so I’m really excited about the committee getting ready for that.

“People always give different ideas about what we can do. Feedback is important.”

Tucker admits to being “tired but very pleased” after Monday’s race went without a hitch, with the issue of the relay runners solved by starting them a few minutes later than the main runners.

Thousands lined the route to see Tyler Butterfield retain his men’s title while his cousin Ashley Estwanik reclaimed her women’s title in spectacular fashion, breaking her 2010 record of 1hr 21min 58sec by 34 seconds, finishing an impressive tenth overall out of 774 finishers.

“I’m extremely pleased with the day and how it went,” Tucker said. “The participants seemed to fare very well and seemed to enjoy the day as it was organised and prepared for them.”

The organisers are hoping that next year’s new course will bring even greater enthusiasm and already east enders are excited about the change.

One St Georgian, Steven Burgess, who expressed his concerns to Tucker a few years ago, is pleased to see the change for next year which gives his mother, now in her nineties, the opportunity to see leaving St George’s once again.

“I told her it would be nice to share the race with the whole Island as it is Bermuda Day,” Burgess said. “I also mentioned to her that it would be nice for my mother and others to see the runners leave St George’s. It’s long overdue.”

Tucker admitted that even those living in the west have been quite receptive to the change.

The race will now leave St George’s and Somerset on the same year that Cup Match is hosted there. The course from St George’s will present different challenges for the runners, some saying that it is more hilly, with the inclines at Blue Hole Hill, Bailey’s Bay before and after Francis Patton School, Flatts Hill and Middle Road from Christ Church up to Fort Hill.

The final part of the course will take the runners on to Front Street via Lane Hill and then through Hamilton to Bernard Park.

“It’s a different kind, of course,” Tucker said. “The Causeway presents a different type of element being wide open, so it will be interesting to see how the runners manage it.

“It’s ‘gradual intensity’ — that’s how I refer to the east-end course — continuously going up, although maybe not as steep as Scaur Hill and Burnt House Hill.

“It’s going to be different and definitely still challenging. I think people will want to get to the start line just to experience the route and the scenery and feel the different terrain. I expect a lot of people will come out and enjoy the occasion.”

Tucker said that she has memories of the race going to the east end because her late father Richard Tucker was one of the organisers. “I was little, but I remember the activities going into the east end,” she said. “I did speak to Cal Bean, who indicated he won the last race coming out of St George’s in 1971.

“Now the elders in our community will get the opportunity to experience this again. It’s about sharing and the next year it will be back in the west again.”

The east will for the first time experience the relay races, which are becoming a popular feature.

“It looks like it went off pretty good and the few changes we made we’ll continue to work on,” Tucker said.

“The front bib was purple rather than white and the back bib said ‘relay’ so if they passed anybody that person would know that it was a relay runner.”