International 10K champion Emmanuel Chamer secured an impressive double triumph yesterday morning with a runaway win in the Half-Marathon.

The 23-year-old Kenyan national team athlete stormed to victory in a fast one hour, five minutes and 28 seconds — only 16 seconds off the race record and over a minute ahead of nearest rival, former British half-marathon champion David Mitchinson, who crossed the line on Front Street in 1:06.37.

Kenya’s Ruto Kipkoech grabbed third with a time of 1:08.39.

In the women’s race, meanwhile, defending champion and race favourite Silvia Skvortsova was out front by herself for the vast majority of the distance as the only two runners capable of matching her — America’s Victoria Jackson and Katie McGregor — used the race more as a training run ahead of what they expect will be a long and demanding season.

Skvortsova, who narrowly missed out on defending her 10K title the previous day when she was beaten by McGregor, crossed the line in 1:17.38 for ninth overall while the two Americans finished virtually side by side over five minutes later.

On a warm, sunny morning, the pace from the front male pack was a little slow through the first five miles, with none of the leading contenders willing to force the pace in the early stages.

That suited Chamer to a tee, however, as he admitted afterwards he had been hoping for a gentle start in light of his title-winning exertions the previous day.

“I was a little tired today after the 10K and the slow start was good for me because it gave me a few miles to get comfortable,” said Chamers, who is hoping to run for Kenya in the 10,000 metres at next year’s Olympic Games in Beijing and has a best time over the distance of 28 minutes and 18 seconds.

“By about mile five I was starting to feel really good and I thought about making a break then. But I said no, take your time, don’t go too early and it was when I got to seven miles that I felt it was the time.

“I thought maybe somebody come with me but nobody did. I wish I had somebody with me because I could probably have run faster.

“But I am happy to win both the 10K and the Half. I know there will be much harder races this year, with many more very good runners, so I took the chance in Bermuda to relax and enjoy my running.”

The 32-year-old Skvortsova was also disappointed that she did not have somebody to push her as she had made up her mind within the first two miles that she would try and break the record of 1:10.57 set in 2004 by Ethiopian Elfenesh Alemu.

“It was clear from almost the beginning that the American girls were not interested in winning the race,” she said through an interpreter.

“I did not feel all that great during the 10K after the long journey from Russia but today I felt really good and strong so I decided to break away and really go for it. I was running with a group of men for a while which helped me, but then I went ahead of them and I was totally alone. Some people like to run like that but I needed somebody there. In the last three miles I realised I had a chance to run under 1:18 and I’m happy I managed it.

On the local scene, after narrowly failing in his quest to secure eight-straight Fairmont to Fairmont race titles nine days ago, Jay Donawa still had plenty to smile about yesterday after finishing as the best-placed Bermudian and sixth overall in 1:11.17.

The full-time fireman said afterwards that he had actually been trying to run the half in around 1:10 — a time he hit twice in two recent half-marathons in Philadelphia — but was still “pretty happy” with his performance.

“Some people might look at the time and think I was not quite at my best but from my perspective I felt I ran an excellent race out there,” he said.

“I was running with the marathoners for quite a while and was actually doing all the work for them which wasn’t great. I eventually got ahead of them and concentrated on reeling in a small group which was in front of me.

“I really raced hard today and I’m happy with the effort I put in.”

Second among the local men was Colin Swan in 1:21:55 (10th overall) while Geoff Blee was third local male in 1:26:47 (14th overall).

Among the local women, Swede Victoria Fiddick produced a sensational performance to finish in 1:27.26 — despite having her preparation severely interrupted by injury and illness.

“That’s a personal best for me in Bermuda — I really cannot believe it,” she said.

“I went out today with a definite plan to run the same pace all the way through. I was by myself the whole way and I was looking to run 6:40 miles but I ended up running some at around 6:20, 6:30 and feeling really comfortable.

“I felt pretty emotional afterwards actually because I haven’t done a lot of preparation. I’ve had one or two medical problems and have been in and out of hospital. I’ve had a broken toe and a stress fracture, my son’s been sick recently and I also have three kids and I work.

“So to produce a PB today given how the last few months have been gives me a lot of pleasure.”

Second among the local women was Karen Bordage who finished in 1:29.38, followed by Karen Smith in 1:30.30.