Jay Donawa may have beaten him in yesterday's Labour Day five-mile road race but top road runner Kavin Smith was all smiles as he relinquished his title - and understandably so.

Less than 24 hours earlier, he had placed 19th in a top-class field of 15,000 runners in the Rock n' Roll Marathon (a half marathon) in Virginia Beach, Virginia before flying home to compete as the defending champion.

“I don't want to take anything from Jay's victory but, of course, a race like that takes a lot out of you. I tried to run hard anyway.

“Jay could have broken me early in the race if he had more confidence in himself, I believe.

“He did a lot of looking about coming in from Blackwatch Pass and that let me know he was concerned about me so it gave me encouragement to hang in to the finish which is what I did.

“I tried my best to lift it up but Jay ran a good tactical race. He did well and it's good to see a new victor. It was fun. I look forward to running Jay fresh and continuing this healthy rivalry,” said Smith, a mere three seconds behind Donawa.

The winner crossed the Union Square finish in 26.43 minutes with Smith, clocking 26.46. Sylvester Pierre was third in 28.10. Victoria Fiddick took the women's title in 34.23 minutes and was 22nd overall.

“I've been putting in some miles during the summer. I just wanted to see where I was at with this race. It went according to plan. I read that Kavin was going away to run and was flying back for the race.

“I was joking with a guy at my job ‘I can't let this man beat me after running a race the day before because I'll never hear the end of it'. To me, there was no war out there. He pushed the pace but at the end I just had fresher legs,” said 29-year-old Donawa who is preparing for several international meets.

His next big assignment is the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Cross Country meet in Aruba in November.

Fiddick (36) was also using the morning event to kick off her racing season and seized her chance to shine in the absence of her top rivals Lynn Patchett, Anna Eatherley and Karen Smith.

“I feel pretty good. I saw my chances with some of the top women not here and I did what I could. It would have been nice to win with a better time but I've been travelling for several weeks so I have not trained that much. It's also the beginning of the season so I'm happy to start with a win,” said the 36-year-old.

Reflecting on his Virginia Beach outing, Smith expressed delight with his showing, given the quality field.

“I was pretty excited about placing 19th overall yesterday (Sunday). They had an exceptional elite field for a half-marathon which was about 12 or 15 elite guys. When you take them out, that puts me right up there.”

The 35-year-old Bermudian, who completed the course in 1:10.27 hours, also won the Males 35-39 age group. His compatriots Ricky Sousa and Lynn Patchett too had cause for celebration. The latter clocked 1:26.29 hours for 96th overall, sixth among the women and second in the Females 35-39 age group.

Sousa, on his debut as a Master, was 75th overall, 72nd among the men and fourth among Males 40-44.

His time was 1:23.59 hours. The event was won by Kenyan Olympic runner Paul Tergat in 1:01.59 hours.

Invigorated by his performance, Smith's focus is now to seek sponsorship for further overseas races. He is eyeing another half marathon in New York next month.

Yesterday's road race was preceded by a five-mile walk won by Donna Simmons in 55.21 minutes and a 1.5 mile youth race in which Sheldon McKenzie led the field in 10.20 minutes.