JENENE Douglas set a lifetime half-marathon best as part of a 19-strong party of runners from Bermuda in the New Las Vegas Marathon and half marathon last Sunday.Her achievement was all the more remarkable considering weather conditions that had even the race winners losing minutes from their expected finishing time due to a south-westerley desert wind that blew gusts between 20 and 30 mph on the exposed course around the Nevada city.

Cloud cover kept temperatures barely higher than 50F for the event.

Race organisers hope one day the race will rival the big city marathons of New York, London and Paris. But some woefully inaccurate mile markers, sparse crowds and the sight of well-honed athletes desperately scaling a six-foot high fence to reach their designated start corral is evidence of the work they still have to do.

The Bermuda contingent of runners from Swan’s Running Club and Mid Atlantic Athletic Club mostly, was triple the size of the half-dozen or so that made it to the 2005 race. The island had a runner in the top 200 of both marathon and half-marathon, a commendable achievement given the 6,005 and 7,183 who finished the two races respectively.

Athletics’ coach Steve Burgess ran home 109th in the half-marathon in a time of 1 hour 32 minutes 26 seconds, the race was won by California’s Josh Spiker in 1:10:08. In the full marathon Scott Neil was 200th in 3:17:52, almost exactly one hour behind Kenyan winner Joseph Kahugo whose 2:16:19 won a $65,000 prize as he led home top female and fellow Kenyan Jemima Jelagat who ran 2:35:13 but was given a near 18-minute head start to add spice to a first man/woman prize challenge with $50,000 awarded to the first to cross the finish line.

Kahugo overtook Jelegat within the final mile to claim the cash.

Aside from Douglas’ personal best in the Bermuda camp, there was a satisfying 35th marathon finish for 69-year-old George Jones, who has competed in every May 24 Marathon Derby since the mid-1970s. He has run 20 Bermuda International Weekend marathons, 11 New York marathons, two in Washington DC and now two in Las Vegas. He was 48th in the 65-69 age category.

Calvin Steede chalked up his 72nd marathon finish as he came home in 3:35:35, while Elvin Thomas, who has now reached 59 marathons, finished in a shade over 4:22. He has pioneered the interest in Las Vegas as a marathon destination for Bermuda runners by running in the last six or seven events.

May 24 Marathon Derby champion Dawn Richardson used the race as a glorified racing run with January’s International Race Weekend marathon her primary goal. Even so she was the second of the Bermuda contingent to finish in 3:34:59.

Jonathan Kent was 601st overall finishing his second marathon in 3:36:20.

MAAC quartet of Terry Bossle, Lisa Van Wanrooy, April Vesey and Wendy Griffin straddled the four-hour mark with Bossle and Van Wanrooy beating the time by a matter of minutes and Vesey and Griffin close to the noteable marker.

Breaking the four-hour barrier by 28 seconds was Troy Farnsworth, while Terence Douglas came home soon after in 4:07:43.

Royal Gazette sports reporter Sam Stevens prepared for his debut marathon in textbook fashion, but on race day added his own addendum to that textbook by trying to boost his energy with jelly candies. Although the experiment proved a mistake, Stevens battled through a tough second half of the race to finish in just over four and a half hours, just ahead of Julie Irvine.

Former Royal Gazette deputy sports reporter Dan Rutstein also fulfilled his goal of completing a marathon, despite a mid-race collapse as one of his knees gave way. With gritty determination he regained his feet and hobbled and hopped the remaining 13 miles, encouraged by calls from some spectators who noticed his personalised race number message “Fat Dan” and called out “Go Fat Dan” and one enamoured fan even pleaded “Marry me Fat Dan,” but the famous Las Vegas Little Wedding Chapel — one of the course landmarks — was already many miles behind Rutstein.

Also running the half marathon with Douglas and Burgess was Ed Harris who finished 271st, Jewel Eve who was a minute and a half under two hours and Donna Mae Smith who was home in a fraction over three and half hours, taking photographs as she ran the course.

Marathon results: 200 Scott Neil 3:17:52, 563 Dawn Richardson 3:34:59, 582 Calvin Steede 3:35:35, 601 Jonathan Kent 3:36:20, 1295 Terry Bossle 3:55:47, 1399 Lis Van Wanrooy 3:57:49, 1499 Troy Farnsworth 3:59:32, 1851 Terence Douglas 4:07:43, 1900 April Vesey 4:08:44, 2055 Wendy Griffin 4:12:25, 2476 Elvin Thomas 4:22:04, 3022 Sam Stevens 4:34:14, 3180 Julie Irvine 4:38:07, 5138 Dan Rutstein 5:42:01, 5741 George Jones 6:42:08.

Half Marathon:<$> 109 Steve Burgess 1:32:26, 271 Ed Harris 1:41:29, 526 Jenene Douglas 1:47:31, 1247 Jewel Eve 1:58:30, 6742 Donna Mae Smith 3:34:50.