Two ex-professional footballers, an international champion boxer and an international cross country runner all competed in the new look IAS & Park 5K across beach, dune, road and grass — so who was the fastest out of the elite sportsmen and women?

Former Manchester City star Shaun Goater looked the part limbering up on the Horseshoe Bay Beach along with fellow one-time English Premier League player Kyle Lightbourne.

Also in the race field of more than 60 was boxing champion Teresa Perozzi who was always likely to give a fair account of herself in a tough event.

But out of the internationally experienced sporting names on show it was the one whose primary discipline most closely matched the event who won out.

Albert (Jay) Donawa, 34, has previously represented Bermuda in the World Cross Country Championships. He was in his element setting an unrivalled pace in the multi-terrain race, quickly opening a gap between himself and the rest.

The race started at the western end of Horseshoe Bay Beach, headed east across the sand and dune trails to Chaplin Bay car park where runners encountered a steep climb to South Road, emerging opposite Warwick Camp, and then along road and grass to Astwood Park and back the same route.

As Donawa reached Warwick Camp going out his nearest rivals Otis Robinson and 13-year-old Trey Simons were still at the bottom of Chaplin Bay car park hill.

Donawa quickly gained traction on the solid tarmac and was soon out of sight and running against the clock — or so he intended.

But the advertised 5-kilometre route was clearly further than 3.1 miles. Donawa checked his watch as he neared Warwick Camp on his return. He’d already run 15 minutes and 15 seconds, pretty much the time he would expect to complete a 5K race in, but he still had a fair way to go. He eventually won by almost a three-minute margin in 18:46.

Afterwards Donawa said: “It’s got to be more than a 5K, maybe three-and-a-half or four miles. But it is not a big deal. It’s not a course where you would be trying to set a personal best anyway because the terrain is so hard to run on.

“When you run across soft sand you quickly build up an oxygen debt and then you have to run up the hill towards the Regiment. Once I got on the road that was the first chance to have a solid footing, but by the time I got comfortable the race went onto grass at Astwood Park, and then it was deceptively hilly on the way back.”

It comes as no surprise to learn Donawa intends another crack at winning the May 24 Marathon Derby, a title that has eluded him although he has finished runner-up in his last seven attempts.

He is holding back on any tapering for local races. He felt fatigued in yesterday’s run because it was slotted into a heavy training cycle. Unlike previous years he does not intend to taper “months” before May 24 and then struggle to hold his racing peak.

“I get into shape real fast (after tapering) and then it is a question of how long I can stay at that peak. I know I’m in shape, my form is good. I’ve been coming on in leaps and bounds. I’ve not been racing too much. When I race I race tired because I’m not stepping down my training. I want to be in shape for May 24,” he explained.

Donawa likes the idea of the new race route, which was formally a flat, road event in Dockyard. He said introducing the elements of beach, grass and road running made it less intimidating than a straight-forward fast road race for people who wanted to come and try out a sporting challenge.

Runner-up Otis Robinson, 33, in 21:36, reckoned the course to be 3.5 miles on his GPS monitor. He too found his normal smooth running rhythm broken by the soft sand and energy-sapping terrain. He said: “It is nice to have an event that breaks things up rather than having all those road races all the time. And running on softer ground like sand and grass means less wear and tear on the muscles.”

First woman Victoria Fiddick, 41, was ninth overall in 23:11. She said: “This was like a cross country race. I enjoyed it. It was pretty tough and I tried to pick off the guys ahead of me. It would have been nice to have seen some more runners here.”

Teenagers Trey Simons and Cary Pinches, 14, had noteworthy days with Simons fifth overall and Pinches second in the female category.

Football hero Goater, 37, only learnt he had been entered in the race a few days earlier and so had done no training. He was 51st out of the 63 finishers. Afterwards he vowed to begin his Bermuda Hogges football team training in earnest after coming last of a small group of prospective Hogges in the race. One of those up ahead was Lightbourne.

Goater thanked the spectators who called out support during the race, and said: “I did no preparation. I was coaxed into running it by friends. But I’m back into my training as of now. I know where my fitness level is.”

North American Boxing Council world champion Perozzi was 44th overall in 31:40.

In a 1.9km children’s race the fastest was Dage Minors, 11, in 8:44 ahead of Justin Corday. Fastest girl was Kyrah Scraders, nine, in 10:04, just ahead of Rachel Fox, 12.