An American athlete who trains at altitude in Colorado made a surprise entry in the 30th anniversary Fairmont to Fairmont road race to deny Jay Donawa a record-breaking eighth consecutive victory yesterday.

Donawa remains the all-time leader with seven straight wins, but he was unable to add to his tally after finding himself up against a surprise rival in Carl Kinney, who came to the Island early to prepare for next weekend’s International 10K.

And the women’s race was an equally unexpected result after pre-race favourite Commonwealth Games athlete Flora Duffy did not take part because of a reported injury, leaving the way clear for reigning champion Victoria Fiddick to duel with eventual winner Dawn Richardson.

American Kinney, 25, who lives in Boulder, Colorado, ran shoulder-to-shoulder with Bermuda’s distance-running favourite Donawa before beginning to pull away as the race, featuring a record 202 finishers, swung into Harbour Road.

As the miles went by, Kinney stretched further and further ahead, able to judge his growing lead by listening for the distant footsteps of Donawa and timing the gap between the applause he heard from the sidelines for the reigning champ.

It was a warm and humid morning but Kinney was untroubled by the conditions, partly as a result of his extensive altitude training in Boulder.

With formidable racing form of 29:20 for a 10K and a 5K of 14:10, he would have been a match for any athlete Bermuda could put forward. Kinney has been in Bermuda for only a few days but checked out the course and read up on race favourite Donawa in preparation.

Only seconds before the start, Donawa was introduced to Kinney. He had no knowledge of what the American was capable of but soon found out as the Colorado man matched him step-for-step along Front Street for the opening mile.

Kinney takes up the story: “Jay and I were bumping elbows in the first mile. I could see him out of the corner of my eye and after the first mile he conceded the lead. I did not see him after that. Someone shouted out I had a 20-yard lead, and then a 40-yard lead. I just kept pushing and I didn’t look back.”

Earlier in the week Kinney had checked out a Royal Gazette story on the internet about Donawa seeking his eighth win and figured he could stir things up by using the event as a warm-up for International Race Weekend as he would be on the Island at the time.

“I knew that Donawa did not expect anyone to challenge him today,” said Kinney. His finish time of 37 minutes, seven seconds is the third fastest in the 30-year history of the event. The fastest was set by David Swainson in 1989 when he stopped the clock at 36:08.

Kinney is part of an impressive training group based in Boulder under the direction of coach Brad Hudson, a former 2:13 marathoner. The training group have in the past few years featured a number of Olympians and US champions. Kinney expects some of his training partners to be on the Island within the next few days for next weekend’s running showpiece events.

Donawa, 34, who was second in 38:25, was philosophical about being denied the chance to stretch his record-breaking streak.

He said: “I saw the guy with Dyrone Minors before the start. I had no idea who he was or that he was good runner.

“We were running together. I wanted to run my own race. As I did not know anything about him I focused on what I was doing.

“All in all I’m pleased with my run. I ran a time pretty consistent with what I’ve done in the past. It would have been nice to have made it eight consecutive wins but it was not to be.”

He added: “Overall I’m happy. I never take anything for granted with this race because it is so close to International Race Weekend there is always the chance that someone will come out prior to the weekend and race. This is a race that I’ve always got on well with and I’ve been healthy going into it each year.”

In the women’s race Commonwealth Games triathlete Flora Duffy was expected to be an untroubled winner, but a reported injury during the week led to her decision not to compete.

Reigning champion Victoria Fiddick was surprised to see no sign of the teenager as the 200 athletes limbered up at the start line outside the Fairmont Hamilton Hotel. It was soon evident the young international was not in the race as the field headed down Front Street with Fiddick closely tracking current May 24 Marathon Derby champ Dawn Richardson.

The pair were well-matched and ran together in a small group with leading over-50 Master Mark Albouy.

It wasn’t until the final testing mile up the drive of the Fairmont Southampton that Richardson opened up daylight between herself and Fiddick, and was able to maintain her lead on the downhill dash to the Whaler Inn, clocking 47:26 to take 10th place overall.

Richardson, 34, said: “It was not so fast a pace and we stayed together. I got half way up the hill (at the Fairmont Southampton) but did not pick up the pace but still went ahead. I like running the hills and wondered if I should surge ahead or not.”

Meanwhile, Fiddick was pleased with her run, despite having a slightly slower time than last year’s race, which was run in a torrential downpour.

“I had no plan for the race, I was trying to make one up as I was running,” the 41-year-old joked afterwards. “I was hanging on and had no idea what pace I was going to do.”

A number of runners who took part in the inaugural Fairmont race ran the anniversary event, including former Premier Dr. David Saul, now 67, who came 78th, and Rosemary Jones who was 111th.

American multi-age record holder Sid Howard, 67, left many younger athletes in his wake as he came home 38th in 52:47.

Race directors Lisa Van Wanrooy and April Vesey, of the organising club Mid-Atlantic Athletic Club, paid tribute to the Fairmont management, particularly managing director Norman Mastalir who pulled out all the stops to make the 30th anniversary race extra special with gifts for the athletes, a sit-down breakfast buffet and a free ferry back to Hamilton.

Van Wanrooy said: “It was a great turnout and the reason the race is so big is because of Fairmont.”

Many runners were delighted to check their past performances on a large display of newspaper clippings and photos, put together by Vesey and Van Wanrooy, which chronicled the 30 years of the event.

A special gift was presented to original race director Peter Lever, who guided the event for 15 years.

In a 3K race for junior runners, between Heron Bay MarkePlace and the Fairmont Southampton, which was sponsored by KMPG, 12-year-old Adlai Teye-Botchway came first in an impressive nine minutes and eight seconds, just ahead of Shawn Herman.

The fastest girls were Nakeno Chreighton, 10, and Rebecca Heyliger, 14, who ran 10:02 and 10:08 respectively.