Multiple May 24 Marathon Derby winner Kavin Smith sounded a warning to all of his rivals in next month’s annual classic, including defending champion Terrance Armstrong, as he romped to victory in yesterday’s RMS Construction 20K road race.

Smith and veteran Ricky Sousa ran side-by-side before the former Derby champion put in a spurt on the final run-in along Woodlands Avenue to claim his first “Masters” category victory.

Another Master (over 40), Victoria Fiddick, was a comfortable winner in the women’s race.

In a shorter 10K race, also held yesterday, it was the Marshall brothers who dominated with Lamont and Larry sticking together until the final turn off St. John’s Road to Woodlands Avenue where the younger of the brothers, Lamont, made his move and cruised to a finish time of 32 minutes and one second, his sibling only six seconds behind.

The positions were a reversal of 2006 for the pair.

Opting for the longer race, which at 12.5 miles is less than a mile short of the May 24 distance, winner Smith and runner-up Sousa were given a good indication of their preparedness for the Island’s distance race classic.

Sousa lamented his lack of consistency in training as the reason for being a few minutes slower than last year. Work and travel commitments, he said, had disrupted his schedule.

“I’ve got to get more consistent. I was not in the groove. I’ve not been consistent in training — you can’t take a few days off and then a few days back on,” he said.

A few seconds down on Smith at the end, Sousa is now focusing on May 24. He is also planning to take part in the World Duathlon championships in Virginia later this year when he will have moved into the 45-49 age group.

For Smith, the day was a landmark of sorts as he won his first Masters’ category prize on the Island, having turned 40 in January. Keeping tabs on the other Masters in the race was one of the reason he ran with Sousa.

Smith, whose last race was victory in the BTFA Fall half-marathon in November where he ran 1:10, said he felt fine with the race pace set by Sousa and feels he might be able to be in the mix come May 24 when a 1:15 time could be on the cards judging by his performance yesterday morning.

“I’m going to do it and act up,” he joked, after clocking 1:17:28.

“I’m going to see how things go that day. It is something that you can’t predict. We’ll see how the other guys are doing. I can run 1:15 — it’ll hurt, but I can run that,” he said.

Third home was Donald Bowman in 1:21:53.

Fiddick said she found the race harder than expected after giving herself a pre-race pace goal but was unable to maintain it beyond the first lap of the two-lap course.

“I was on target at six miles but as I was not in a race (with any close rival) I decided to pull back. I really didn’t feel like I was in control. However, it was a nice tune-up for May 24,” she said.

Second woman was Alison Harvey in 1:27:28 followed by Rosa Peicheto.

Marshall said after his 10K win: “We wanted to run 32 minutes or under and we raced together the whole way. For the first five miles we were doing 5:15 miles, then once we came up Palmetto Road the second time and past the bus depot we picked up the pace.

“It was a little breezy on North Shore. When we came out of St John’s Road onto Woodlands Avenue I made my move away from Larry.”

“This was a good showing of fitness and being injury-free. Hopefully I or my brother can win on May 24,” he said.

Third in the race was Lance Bird in 39:06. First woman was Sharlene Shakes in 44:31.