England's Peter Whitehead took only a few minutes to wrestle control of Saturday's 10K -- and by the time he reached the first hill at Cable & Wireless on Middle Road even the large satellite dish seemed to pick up signals that this was going to be his special day.

Whitehead, who had kept saying since his arrival last week that he wanted to make a good impression here, did that and more by turning the 18th edition of the event into a one-man show.

The native of Leeds, England, pried open a substantial gap only a mile-and-a-half into Saturday's race and never looked back.

Indeed, the 29-year-old refused to glance over his shoulder to see how close (or how far) his nearest rivals were.

What Whitehead -- who picked up a $1,000 cheque for winning the race -- would have seen was a chasm so deep that it sometimes seemed like he was running the entire race solo.

Whitehead won it in spectacular fashion -- clocking 29 minutes and two seconds -- the second best winning time in race history behind fellow Englishman Geoff Smith, who set the record of 28:14 in 1982. It was the third best time in race history, with only Smith and Greg Fredericks (28:59) running faster.

Setting a blistering -- and often awesome -- pace, Whitehead ran every mile but the last in under four minutes and 42 seconds.

"I wanted to win so badly,'' he said after the race. "I knew I was in good shape and coming in on Wednesday the atmosphere, the hype, the build-up and watching (Friday night's) Mile I was really buzzing.

"I was a bit of a dark horse...I hope people are starting to take a bit of a notice of me.'' Whitehead had nothing to worry about.

It didn't take long for the bulging crowd along the race route to spot Whitehead on a day that will be remembered as a barometric beauty, with brilliant sunshine, warm air and a nifty bit of wind.

The 29-year-old, who has recently been training with John Kipkoskei and Richard Rono, the two Kenyans in the race, said that the Africans held the key to his victory. He competed against them only two weeks ago in Cali, Colombia and seemed to base his strategy on Saturday on how they chose to run the sometimes gruelling race.

"When you train with these guys you know what sort of shape they're in and I knew I was in better shape,'' said Whitehead, flashing a wide grin. "I felt good and confident and I thought to myself `go for it. If these guys are going to beat me they're going to have to work damned hard'.'' It was a personal best for Whitehead, who last year won a pair of 10Ks in England clocking 29:24 and 29:25, but his personal best was 29:14 in a fifth place finish early in 1994.

"It got to a mile and a half and I was feeling comfortable and I thought there's no point in sitting back. The gap seemed to get bigger and I just didn't look behind me once. I concentrated right on the front and went for it.'' Since Whitehead's victory became secure so soon, the crowd's attention quickly became rivetted on the battle for second spot, a feisty duel between defending champion Michal Bartoszak of Poland and Canadian Jeff Schiebler.

The pair ran neck-and-neck entering National Stadium with Schiebler capturing the photo finish. It was an ending all-too-familiar for Bartoszak, who last year won the race at the finish line against England's Dave Lewis.

Both clocked 30:00 as Bartoszak suffered his second disappointment of the weekend.

The night before he saw his Mile crown snatched away by a frisky Paul Freary, and on Saturday became exasperated by Whitehead's steely determination.

Bartoszak -- he sadly told his wife Lidia after the Mile: "I'm sorry, baby, I couldn't do it again for you'' -- acknowledged that fighting the final rounds of a bout with the 'flu was far more difficult than tackling his opponents.

"I was sick five or six weeks ago and I was using antibiotics and my lungs didn't feel well,'' said Bartoszak, who still managed to put in an exemplary performance (he was only 28 seconds shy of his winning time from a year ago).

On Friday night he finished a disappointing fifth in the Mile in 4:11.

"I promised a spectacular performance to the organisers, but if I wasn't champion I wouldn't have come,'' he added. "I felt very, very bad. Everybody was saying `go Michal, go Michal' and I came in third.'' Much of Saturday's attention had been focussed on the Kenyan runners, competing in Bermuda for the first time. Richard Rono and John Kipkoskei are just two of the new wave of Kenyans dominating long distance running.

Kipkoskei finished fourth in 30:10 followed closely by Mexico's Maximo Castillo, fifth in 30:10. Sixth in 30:17 was Freary with American Tim Garguilo (30:27) and Rono (30:41) trailing behind.

"It's amazing how Peter (Whitehead) kept pulling away the whole race,'' said Schiebler, who pocketed the $600 prize for finishing second. "I just thought (Whitehead) would either put in a surge and one of the Kenyans would go and get him and we'd try to pull along or he'd come back. Nothing like that happened.'' Contemplating the epic battle for second with Bartoszak, Schiebler said: "I kind of figured it would come down to that and I just thought `if I can only try and outwit him, outkick him.'' Freary, whose dazzling weekend began with a triumph in the Mile, complained on Saturday of muscle cramps in both legs, but still improved on his 10th place finish in the 10K last year.

"I kind of wanted to go out steady today,'' he said. "But it's kind of hard to go out steady when you're watching everyone get away from you.'' Later he added: "I'm very pleased with it, it's a tough course and I couldn't ask for more really.'' Anne-Marie Letko, whose sinewy figure -- more athletic than fragile -- is becoming a familiar sight in Bermuda at this time of year, went largely unchallenged, winning her third consecutive women's title, this time clocking 33:52. But fellow American Debbie Kilpatrick, finishing in 34:08, managed to offer a stubborn challenge.

Just four seconds off her winning pace from 1994, Letko, 25, said she wasn't feeling up to par because she only began training a week ago in the aftermath of last fall's New York Marathon.

"I'm just coming back,'' said Letko of her recent training. "My breathing's off and I just didn't feel good.'' Letko, however, proved she can still take the breath away from Bermuda road running fans.

"To come down here, the people are very supportive. More and more people know me now. It's a nice feeling that at any point in the race and having people call you by your first name instead of saying `go 100!','' she added, wanting to be remembered by name rather than the number she wore on Saturday. "This is a good stepping stone for the next few weeks...I'll feel that much better knowing I won a race.'' Later she said: "This year and last year felt almost the same. I felt really bad for the first two miles even though it's mostly downhill. My second 5K was a bit slower than my first, but I loosened up a bit and then I got tired on the hill at the end.'' Finishing behind Kilpatrick was American Lisa Senatore of US in 35:11. Michele Buresh, also from the US, was fourth in 35:34.

"I was pretty steady the whole race,'' said Kilpatrick. "I was surprised...I kept dreading the hills because I kept hearing so much about them, but they really weren't a problem. I kept dreading that last one but it wasn't so bad.'' Expected to climb even bigger hills now is Whitehead, set to run the Tokyo Marathon next month. Eddy Hellebuyck, last year's marathon winner and Whitehead's agent, told him that there's not too many people who can beat him right now. "He told me that -- apart from runners like (Kenyan) Benson Masya and maybe one or two other guys in America,'' said Whitehead. "After today's race I'm pretty sure I can run as well as any of the Kenyans in America right now.'' Kipkoskei is also preparing for the Tokyo Marathon and used Saturday's 10K primarily as a tune-up.

"I'm training for a marathon and I think that's why I didn't run good today,'' he said.

Said Rono: "It was a good course, but very hard.'' ANNE-MARIE LETKO -- 10K queen again JENNIFER FISHER -- top local female SETTING THE PACE -- Runaway winner Peter Whitehead leads Kenyans John Kipkoskei (K4) and Richard Rono through the first mile.

SPRINT FINISH -- Canada's Jeff Schiebler (K7) pips Michal Bartoszak for second place on the line.

ALL ALONE -- Peter Whitehead heads for home with the rest of the 10K field left in his wake.