Dennis Mbelenzi displayed his resilience to held off strong competition from the young Kallan Richardson to win the Ludwig Cann 10K on Sunday.

Mbelenzi crossed the finish line at Astwood Park in 33min 59sec. Richardson was less than a minute behind in 34:36 with Philip Woollins third in a time of 36:51.

Estienne Coetzee was the first woman home in 39:33 with her time placing her eleventh overall. Teresa Ruiz (40:08) and Stepanka Sprincova (40:28) completed the women’s top three.

While he had promised to take it easy in the opening race of the Legends Series, Mbelenzi’s time was faster than the 38:40 he clocked on his way to winning the same race in 2018.

“As competitive people, it’s always nice to win,” Mbelenzi told The Royal Gazette.

“Kallan is my good friend and we do some training runs together. It's always nice to have him as he’s a young man coming up quite nicely and I’m very excited for him.

“We went together up to 5K and he was holding his own, pushing the pace. I was still in control, but he was right there with me.

“I knew I was always going to try and push it a little harder in the second half, which is what I did. I was able to just maintain and slightly expand that lead and finish with a win, for which I’m very happy.

“I took a little break from training, rested on Saturday and did not do any runs. I realised the conditions were going to be good, 14 degrees with no wind is typically ideal for distance running.

“In the context of a full marathon training, this 10K is more like a threshold workout. I’m using it in preparation for the marathon I’m doing on March 22, so it’s a good training run.”

With the Bermuda Half-Marathon Derby being his main goal, Mbelenzi is planning on skipping some of the races in the Legends Series.

“I can go public now as I plan to race in the Bermuda Half-Marathon Derby,” the 44-year-old said.

“The rest of the year basically looks like the key races for me will be Shamrock on March 22, Derby on May 22 and Toronto Waterfront is going to be my main marathon in October.

“Every training now is centred around those races. Right now I’m thinking of the marathon, after which I will focus on the Derby.

“The marathon clashes with the Ray Swan 8K, so I cannot do that. I am sure I can do the Ed Sherlock on April 4, but the Sir Stanley Burgess 5K in May is crunch time for the Derby and I cannot commit to it at this point.

“It will depend on where my training for the Derby is, especially considering I would have done a full marathon probably a month prior.

“It’s a little recovery period, then there’s cranking up the miles again and all the threshold work that goes with the half-marathon training. At this stage I’m not decided if I will do that last race.”

Richardson was pleased with how he handled the race on what he described as a challenging course.

“The course was a bit tougher than I was expecting, but overall I’m happy with how I felt and the progress I’ve made so far,” the 20-year-old said.

“I went into this race just to keep training and progress the mileage and intensity of this into the rest of the season. I was able to hold a decent effort until the end after I fell off from Dennis.

“I just want to see how training goes to be able to have a more concrete goal, but things look like they’re going in the right direction so far.”

Coetzee followed up her victory in the Butterfield & Vallis 5K last month with a maiden triumph in the Ludwig Cann 10K.

“I just tried to stay with a couple of the guys that do Mid Atlantic Athletic Club track,” she said.

“I pushed myself to stay with them and tried not to get too far behind but I was really struggling at the end because I went out too fast.

“It was a hilly course so I tried to just pace myself because I knew that I was going to have to run the hills coming back as well.

“Teresa and Stepanka were not too far behind me and I just tried to keep my pace the same, so that I could stay in front.”

Unlike most of the runners on island who are building up for the Derby, Coetzee is focusing on shorter distances.

“I don’t do long distances, because I tore my meniscus before,” the women’s winner said.,

“As soon as I run more than 15 kilometres, my knee just gives in. For that reason I don’t do half marathons and I only go as far as the 10K.

“My chances of winning the Legends Series depends on Stepanka and Teresa. I can easily have a bad day and then they can beat me, so I feel like anyone can win it. I’m signed up to run the whole series, so as long as I don’t get injured I’m running all the races.”

With Mbelenzi and Richardson in the race, Woolins stated that he knew his chances of winning were slim.

“You’ve got to leave them [Mbelenzi and Richardson] to go off on the front,” the third-placed runner said.

“There were two different races. They went away and the rest of us let them because we were never going to keep up.

“They both ran sub-35, which is quick at the best of times and very quick out here. We had them for the first two kilometres and then they were gone.

“They must have had about an 800-metre lead by the turnaround and, they were flying. I never tried to keep up, that would have been a terrible decision because they’re both much quicker than me.”

Ruiz used the Ludwig Cann 10K to prepare for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Half-Marathon next Sunday.

“I did not have any expectations going into this race,” she said.

“I have a half-marathon next weekend, so that’s what I’m training for. This was a test run and I worked with my coach to maintain a pace for the half and get a test of how the pace would be.

“It was perfect because it was hilly, so it adds a bit more difficulty and prepares me for a flatter course. After this I feel like I’m ready to race next weekend.”

Sprincova was delighted to shed some time from the 42:12 she recorded in the same race last year. In the process, the 42-year-old achieved her personal best in the 10K.

“I'm happy with the race because it’s exactly what I wanted,” Sprincova said.

“Estienne is fast and it’s just hard to compete with her. She’s fast in the 5K and 10K as she has the endurance and speed.

“But for me it’s like I’m stuck with Teresa, she’s my goal. Teresa and I were good pacers for each other. We’re getting good times together and I had my PB in the 10K, which is really great.”

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