THE Nuade twins were kings of the road in the Butterfield and Vallis 5K race, splashing their way through puddles and dodging others as they broke clear from a field of more than 200 runners to secure the first two places.With none of the island’s other big road running names rolling up for the annual event Evan and brother Riaan quickly separated themselves from the chasing pack and were more than 100 metres clear by the first mile, although Craig Rothwell made a valiant attempt to make a race of it as he moved into third place.

The Nuades were soon more than a minute clear of the others. On Berkeley Hill, just before the first mile marker, Evan opened up a small gap over his brother but even as he stretched it out there was never large enough to allow him to switch to cruise control.

But the twins were making their first race appearance in Bermuda since they ran competitive Chicago marathon times last autumn.

Evan had the greater turn of speed in his legs and crossed the finish line in 16 minutes 14 seconds, while Riaan clocked 16:36.

The brothers intend to compete in a number of local races through the spring.

After his victory Evan said: “I’m satisfied with my time although it is quite a bit slower than two years ago when I did 15:42.”

Both were looking to run something in the 16-17 minute given their current level of training. Riaan said: “It’s a tough course with the hills. The conditions were nice and cool although there were a lot of pot holes to dodge.”

For most of the race it appeared Rothwell would reprise his third place of 2006. But was not apparent until later in the race was the fact he was battling with weakened Achilles. The dogged pursuit of fourth-placed Greg Reid forced Rothwell to maintain a fast pace, dangerously so in view of his troubled Achilles muscle.

He almost got away with the gamble but in the final half-a-mile Rothwell’s Achilles gave way and he pulled up sharp, unable to continue running as Reid quickly ate up the 60 metres difference between the two men and pushed on to claim third in 17:59.

Afterwards Rothwell spoke of his disappointment and his expectation that the injury will now keep him out of competition for at least a month.

“I could feel the Achilles after about a mile or so and should have done the right thing and stopped. But I kept running and then with half-a-mile to go it went and I could not run anymore,” he said.

In the women’s race Joanna Shillington proved to be the one to catch as she turned up the heat in the final mile to open a 24-second winning margin over Dawn Richardson as the pair ran 19:33 and 19:57 respectively, and Allison Harvey was close behind in 20:07.

Top Master was fourth-placed Vernon Tankard ahead of Geoffrey Blee (fifth) and Manuel Lopes (eighth).