Two new course bests were set in the 15th Annual Ed Sherlock Five Mile Road Race as running couple Chris and Ashley Estanwik continued to re-write the Island's record books despite hot and humid February weather.

And further down yesterday's 82-strong field of runners was 75-year-old visitor Jim Green, who finished third in the 1960 Boston Marathon and is still able to show a clean pair of heels to many younger runners as he ducked under 45 minutes.

For the second consecutive year the men's record tumbled, this time by just under 50 seconds as Estwanik pulled out all the stops to record a time of 25 minutes 10 seconds, beating last year's champion and former record holder Lamont Marshall, who kept up with the ex-USA international for the first few miles before slipping away as Estwanik's superior stamina told.

Runners had relief from the bright sunshine during the opening miles along Middle Road, but faced a sudden burst of heat when they turned at Barnes Corner for the final two miles along South Road to Southampton Rangers Club.

Estwanik noted it felt like running in two different countries, such was the change in conditions. He praised runner-up Marshall for sticking out the fast pace as long as he did and believes the younger of the Marshall brothers has potential to turn up his competitive edge with more endurance work to compliment his shorter distance speed.

The women's race saw three of the Island's consistently fast competitors line up, with Commonwealth Games middle-distance runner Ashley Estwanik the favourite, ahead of Dawn Richardson and Victoria Fiddick. That ended up being the finishing order as Estwanik pushed to a third place overall in a new women's record of 29.33.

Last year's winner Richardson, who won gold for Bermuda in the 2007 Island Games half-marathon, was able to break away just before Barnes Corner and stretched out a 40-second lead from Fiddick, who recently took a four-week training break and found herself lacking enough speed to respond to her training partner's break.

There were strong performances throughout the field and some runners, such as 70-year-old George Jones, even had energy at the end to dance to the DJ music as they crossed the finish line.

The event was put on by Swan's Running Club and prizes were presented by legendary multi-May 24 champion Ed Sherlock himself.