Chris Estwanik added the RMS Construction 20K title to his growing list of on-Island honours with a blistering performance yesterday that took him to victory in one hour, five minutes and 25 seconds.

The former American track athlete ran side-by-side with Lamont Marshall for the opening 10K loop, which was completed by all 125 competitors.

At that point Marshall peeled off to win the separate 10K event, held in conjunction with the longer race, in an impressive time of 32.24, which put him more than five minutes ahead of second-placed Gerd Balon.

Meanwhile, Estwanik pushed on alone to complete a second lap, taking in St. John's Road, and turning at Admirality Park onto North Shore Road all the way to the hill at Palmetto Road and back into town to finish at BAA Field.

A north-westerly wind caused little problem as it came in from the ocean side of the course during the sixth annual running of the RMS event.

Estwanik ran his solo second circuit at almost the same pace as his first and, at the end, declared himself satisfied with his performance - which indicates a possible time of 1.08 in the 98th annual May 24 Marathon Derby (which will this year take place on May 26, and since last year is now an officially measured half-marathon).

He said he had found it a lonely experience out at the front, but was now looking forward to experiencing crowds lining the route in his debut May 24 appearance.

A total of 66 runners completed the full 20k distance (12.5 miles), with multiple May 24 champion Kavin Smith back in action and cruising to second place in 1.16.13.

Estwanik's wife Ashley, who represented Bermuda at the last Commonwealth Games in the 800 metres, was third across the finish line in 1.19.49 after running with fourth-placed Dawn Richardson for a large part of the race.

Third places in the respective men's and women's races went to Leon Bascome and Victoria Fiddick.

In the shorter 10K, Balon was the distant runner-up to Marshall in 37.51, ahead of Michael Arbuthnot.

Fastest woman was Clare De Ste Croix in 45.44 finishing ahead of Mia Pauwels-Pedro and Emily Dunne.

Full race results, see Scoreboard, page 30.