Ashley Estwanik completed a husband-and-wife double as she landed a fifth women’s title yesterday.

Estwanik finished eleventh overall in 1hr 22min 43sec, more than a minute and two places ahead of women’s runner-up Ashley Berry, who clocked an impressive time of 1:23:53 on her race debut.

“It was really hard work and lonely because no one was there,” said Estwanik, who was hoping to get close to her record time last year of 1:21:24.

“When I was coming off Lane Hill, I turned around and saw Ashley Berry and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I better pick it up’. So those last 2½ miles were really, really tough.

“She is one to look out for; I’m a little scared, absolutely.”

The conditions were perfect, with an easterly breeze pushing the runners along Kindley Field Road, although the hilly course presented some challenges as expected.

“The breeze did help but I never felt amazing, although I guess you’re not supposed to,” Estwanik said.

“I kind of expected to feel pretty smooth by the Aquarium and by then I was already hurting. But if you’re not hurting, you’re not working hard enough.

“I didn’t find the Bailey’s Bay hill too bad and the Flatts one bad and from Island Construction [in Devonshire] on, I just had to take it in pieces.

“My time was way faster last year so maybe it was the course or maybe I’m not in as good a shape as last year.”

East End residents came out in their thousands to cheer on more than 1,300 runners.

“Amazing, like no patch was quiet,” Estwanik said.

“Bailey’s Bay, by Swizzle Inn, was just amazing and my face is hurting from smiling so much. It was never quiet, I’m really impressed with the East Enders.”

Berry put on a good showing in her first Derby, beating two former winners, Rose-Anna Hoey and Deon Breary, on her way to thirteenth overall.

“I feel tired but good, it was a lot of fun,” said Berry, who has turned to the 3,000 metres steeplechase as a speciality and returns to Loughborough University in England tomorrow.

“I wanted to go out and see what I could do and the crowd made it amazing,” Berry said. “It’s one of the best races I’ve done.

“I felt really comfortable until about mile 11. I wasn’t prepared for the hills in town, but it was my first time and I didn’t know what to expect.”

Berry, 23, is not sure when she will compete in the race again as she is soon to attend medical school.

“I don’t think I’ll be in Bermuda the next few years, which is why I made the effort to come home this year.

“I’m completing my Masters in pharmaceutical science in September and then in January I’ll be going to medical school. “I’m not sure if that schedule is going to allow me to come home and run.”

Hoey was the third woman to finish in 1:30:44, 32nd overall, while Breary was 34th in 1:31:13. Krista Dyer completed the top five women’s finishers, placing 44th in 1:33:37.

Another former women’s winner, Debbie Butterfield, finished 160th in 1:49:19. It was her first Derby in 14 years.

“It was a great day and the crowds were amazing,” she said. “I’m glad I did it and glad I finished, too,”

Butterfield’s first outing was back in 1977, after the organisers had stopped running the race in the East End.

“I don’t know if I’ll do it again or not,” she said. “I just wanted to do this one,” Butterfield said.