Perfect conditions graced Front Street last night but even on an evening of records, elite winner Juan Luis Barrios Nieves couldn?t trouble the magical four-minute barrier.

With new marks set by Alexis Bean and Lamont Marshall in their respective races earlier in the night, expectations were high going into the showpiece event on a rare Race Weekend night of neither wind nor rain.

And even though last year?s champ Elkanah Angwenyi sped off from the line, the pace was never quite electric enough.

Despite the Mexican?s impressive margin of victory, nearly two seconds, he was a good five seconds shy (four minutes, 5.63 seconds) of the elusive $10,000 prize in beating out first-timers Godfrey Rono and Neil Speaight.

?I am very happy, it was a good race,? said the sweaty but delirious Barrios Nieves, a CAC cross-country winner here in 2001 and second-placed finisher in the Mile last year.

?It was good to move from second to first. The weather was perfect so I was happy to run fast from the start.

?I very pleased with the win ? but I think I can go faster. I think I can break four minutes here.

?I like Bermuda very much and the crowd help me a lot.?

Angwenyo and Barrios Nieves, one and two last year, made the early running, breaking away after just 30 metres with Kenyan Rono and creating a noticeable gap even at the first turn.

Their quarter mile pace was just a shade quicker than a minute with double winner James Thie settled back in fifth in what looked to be a tactical position.

On the back straight the Mexican continued to push with Rono although Angwenyi, a hot favourite to earn some serious cash in the remarkably benign conditions, limped out of contention ? he soldiered on and eventually hobbled across the line dead last in 6:12.63 to a hero?s reception.

At the second turn the gap was still substantial but Speaight, rooming with Thie and running in only his third ever road race mile, used his 800 metres speed to begin to force the pace for the chasing pack.

Barrios Nieves kept ahead of the game, never looking like giving up the crown but Speaight chased down his man and took Rono practically on the line, muscling his lanky frame past the young Kenyan to claim second-place honours by two hundredths of a second.

?I?ve got to be happy with this,? said a surprisingly composed Speaight, a track specialist who had never beaten Thie before in road races.

?There was a bit of a gap but I knew that I had the speed and I was feeling pretty good going down the final stretch. I just kept pushing and the leaders got closer and I just took him at the end.

?I tell you what though, it is a great race. The crowd were fantastic, I?ve never seen anything like this. I?ll be pencilling this one in for next year.?

Thie eventually finished in fifth in 4:10.09 behind Ryan Hayden of Canada while local boy Michael Donawa finished 10th in a creditable 4:24.98.

Much of the tension of the night?s racing was lost on the assembled spectators with technical difficulties plaguing the commentators to leave those who had lined the street for the much-hyped new KPMG-sponsored race having to guess at runners? positions while at either end of the course.