Lamont Marshall and Victoria Fiddick are the first champions of the newest road race on the Bermuda athletics calendar.

Both were clear victors in the Bacardi 8K race that was held in bright conditions with very low humidity.

For Marshall it was a pleasing early season outing, as he ran within five seconds of his best for the distance, which is roughly five miles.

In the opening mile he had Otis Robinson for company, but soon took charge and by the time he reached the two-mile mark at Spanish Point he had opened up a commanding lead ahead of Kavin Smith and Sylvester Jean-Pierre.

Marshall, who most recently won the Crime Stoppers 5K race at the end of October, said: "As far as the course went it was challenging. After two miles there was a rolling hill to go up and then more along North Shore.

"The conditions weren't too bad. I was trying to get anywhere close to 26 minutes, so I'm encouraged to be running the time I did so early in the season."

Marshall's winning time was 26 minutes and two seconds, well clear of runner-up Smith, who ran 27:41, and Jean-Pierre (28:59).

His next target is the Front Street Mile time-trials in December.

In the women's race it looked like a head-to-head between Victoria Fiddick and Dawn Richardson. But Richardson set off at a slower pace than usual in a bid not to aggravate an Achilles' tendon injury from the Chicago Marathon.

There was no such holding back for Fiddick, who always looked in control as she ran 31:48, to finish seventh overall in a race field of more than 200 runners. Second was Richardson (33:40) ahead of Alison Harvey (33:59).

Fiddick said afterwards: "I did not prepare that well for the race and I didn't really know where the course would take us. It was surprising how many hills there were.

"My time was not a 'fast, fast time'. I ran with Norbert Meyer for the first half of the race and was consistent for the first four miles and then eased up a little."

Fiddick is now contemplating a shot at next weekend's BTFA Fall Half-Marathon between St. George's and Hamilton.

Yesterday's well organised race, sponsored by Bacardi and overseen by the Mid Atlantic Athletic Club left entrants buzzing with excitement and compliments. The only minor oversight was the requirement for athletes to wear race chips as a number of runners who did not congregate at the front of the Bacardi building but instead waited by the start line on Pitts Bay Road were unaware of the request to wear strap-on race chips and consequently were left off the official list of 207 finishers.

An 8K race walk held in conjunction with the running race attracted 102 finishers, with Sinclair Smith out in front in 51:32, from Lawrence Deshield (53:26) and first woman Davina Dickinson (53:41).

See full results on page 18

• Otis Robinson finished second overall in the Goodwill 5,000 metres race at Montclair, just west of New York City, on Saturday.

In cold conditions he ran a time of 17 minutes and 24 seconds to finish behind New Jersey-based winner Michael Mitchell, who ran 15:52 in a race that had 465 finishers. Robinson said: "It was very cold, about 34 degrees and then there was a cool wind also. The first mile was 5:05, I stayed with the eventual winner for the first three-quarters of a mile."

His second mile was barely under seven minutes, but he made up for that with a storming last mile in 4:36 to put him 24 seconds clear of the third place athlete.

"I tried to maintain a level position in the race. I've still not cracked my 5K time because of the weather and what-not, but the experience is proving good and I'm staying pretty consistant with my times."

The Swan's Running Club athlete is now preparing for another jaunt to New Jersey to race this Thursday in the Dick Meighan 5K, an event that attracts more than 1,000 runners.