Chayce Smith retained his RMS Construction 20K Road Race title with a display of front running that took him out of sight of his nearest pursuers after two miles.

Meanwhile Teresa Humphrey secured the women’s title.

First woman across the line, Becky Vernon, had her time nullified for mistakenly veering off the course midway through race.

In the men’s race Smith, 28, stamped his authority early and maintained a pace that no one else was able to match. He won in 1hr 11min 53sec, which was more than a minute down on his winning time in 2015.

For much of the race Ryan Wilson looked set to reprise his runner-up position from a year ago. He had Spencer Butterfield for company, and the two matched strides until just beyond the 15K mark where Butterfield opened up a gap and maintained his advantage to claim second place in 1:15:31, with Wilson third in 1:17:01.

“Ryan led us out and I tucked behind him until about 15K. That’s when he eased back and I went ahead. I was expecting him to come back at me,” said Butterfield, 34.

Wilson had gone out at a pace of 6:05 per mile, but lost ground in the final miles. He said race leader Smith vanished from sight after the opening two miles, leaving himself and Butterfield to work together.

“The time was good and it was a good pace. I did what I wanted to do,” said Wilson, 31.

In the women’s race Humphreys, 31, who was twelfth overall, took the title in 1:32:32, ahead of Krista Dyer in 1:34:28. Third place went to Alicia Hancock in 1:37:12.

Vernon was the first woman to cross the finish line, just over a minute-and-a-half ahead of Humphreys, however officials said her time had to be nullified because she accidentally missed a turning on St John’s Road and as a result did not complete the full course.

The two-lap race covers a distance of about 12½ miles. It started in overcast conditions, which deteriorated to persistent rain during the second lap.

A one-lap 10K race was held in conjunction with the main race and was won by Allan Fox in 39:23. The 35-year-old ran alongside 20K athletes Wilson and Butterfield for a spell before completing his shorter race. Jahmai Lottimore was second in 41:48, followed by Byron Rencken in 42:30.

First woman was Gayle Lindsay. She was fourth overall in 44:04, having lost time in the final kilometre after suffering a side stitch. However, she remained upbeat about her performance and said she enjoyed the event.

Melissa Logie was second in 46:33, with Martina Olcheski-Bell third in 47:54.

The 10K competitive walk was won by Gary Young in 1:13:55, ahead of Sinclair Smith and Rebecca Perry who both clocked 1:15:55.