specifically for yesterday's Elbow Beach Half Marathon and made it a memorable one.

In what is believed to be a course record, Smith crushed the 80-runner field, winning in a time of one hour, nine minutes and 21 seconds.

Tracy Wright was a distant second in 1:13:33 with Colin Swan third in 1:17:48.

Smith knocked almost three minutes off last year's winning time of 1:12:05.

And while Wright was well inside the time Mark Perry in 1992 (1:16:23), he was never going to challenge the two-time reigning champion.

Smith is just off a creditable performance in Puerto Rico where he placed fourth in both the 10,000 metres and 5,000 metres.

Debbie Butterfield was equally an easy women's winner as she finished 27th overall in 1:30:48, but there was a tough battle for second.

Julia Hawley outran Jane Christie and Melanie Claude in a fine finish, with the former gaining female open honours.

Hawley clocked 1:32:49 with Christie second in 1:32:56 and Melanie Claude third in 1:33:02.

Harry Patchett, who was fourth overall, celebrated a rare win over Jeremy Ball in the masters division when he timed 1:17:52 to Ball's 1:19:22.

Giorgio Zanol was the top senior master in 1:34:03.