One of the severest winters to strike the UK in decades hasn’t stopped Bermuda’s Otis Robinson from hitting the kind of road racing form that took him to a lifetime best for five miles at the weekend.In fact, the Southampton runner believes running in the snowy conditions, which blanketed much of the country in December, has actually helped make him a stronger athlete.Robinson is currently living in the Birmingham area of England, and took part in the Coventry Godiva Harriers’ five-mile road race on Sunday. On the streets of Coventry he found himself in the company of some of the area’s best club athletes a fact underlined when the first 14 finishers all broke 26 minutes for the distance.“The Coventry Godiva team were out in their yellow jerseys. There were about 15 or 20 of them and they went out at sub-5 minute mile pace. I usually go out hard but the pace was ridiculous,” said Robinson.Robinson pushed to get as close to 28 minutes as possible, and lost some time in the final quarter mile when he veered off route before correcting himself. Even so, he broke his lifetime best as he crossed the line 20th in 28.21.The race was won by Coventry Godiva’s Stephen Emery in 24.24, while first woman was Godiva’s international athlete Celia Taylor in 29.10. Robinson was delighted with his performance, which came a week after he finished fourth in the Cannon Hill 5K park race near Birmingham. On that day the runners faced cold weather, ice on the ground and sleet with finishing times much slower as a result. The race was won by Ed Banks in 17.42, while Robinson clocked 18.35.After Sunday’s five mile race, Robinson said: “Running in the snow has toughened me up. I was keen to see what I could do on a dry day.”