A waiting game paid off for Jennifer Alen as she came from behind in the final half-mile of the PartnerRe 5K to claim victory yesterday.

Alen competes in the women-only event at the Botanical Gardens every year and has always wanted to win the race – 2010 proved to be her year at last.

The 26-year-old had prepared well with a personal best road mile of five minutes and 10 seconds set a week earlier in New York City.

Few, if any, of the other runners in the race were aware of Alen's second place in the Fifth Avenue Mile seven days earlier. But they knew by the end.

Alen ran a controlled race, knocking out 6.10-minute miles which kept her in contention with earlier leader and former race champion Fiddick.

Around two miles into the 3.1-mile event, as the runners streamed past the Botanical Gardens on South Road, Fiddick had a gap of 30 to 40 metres on Alen. But that was about to change as the two leaders turned up Tee Street and then onto Berry Hill Road for the run-in to the finish inside the Botanical Gardens.

"I was closing on Victoria on Tee Street. I was holding back to see what she would do," said Alen.

When Fiddick did not appear to react, Alen took seized her opportunity and overtook halfway along Berry Hill Road. She surged and quickly found herself out in the clear, storming to victory in 19.32. It wasn't a personal best, but it was quicker than her time a year ago when she was third behind course record holder Olga Firsova and runner-up Fiddick.

Speaking of her race plan, Alen said she knew that, after her New York mile time, she was strong enough to go out with Fiddick, but decided to keep her distance in the opening stages and concentrate on running an even pace of 6.10 miles.

She added: "It has always been my goal to win this race."

Runner-up Fiddick stopped the clock at 19.54. She is training for the Toronto Half Marathon in two weeks time and realised that her emphasis on endurance work had somewhat blunted her speed over shorter distances.

She decided to lead from the front in the hope that a sustained pace would tire her younger rival, but when Alen came past in the final stages of the race, Fiddick was unable to respond.

Fiddick acknowledged Alen's fine run. She said: "I knew she was going to be incredibly strong. She had that 5.10 mile a week ago and that is just what you need before a 5K. I've been doing tempo runs for my half-marathon, so we came into the race today at different ends of the (training) spectrum.

"I'm happy for her. It was a good 5K. I know I'm capable of doing better. Last year I was doing sub-19s."

Fiddick hopes to do well in the Toronto race, but has had to jump into her training programme halfway through because of an earlier injury. Two years ago she ran a 1.23 personal best in the Canadian city's half-marathon.

Third woman was Joanna Shillington, who improved on her fourth place last year. It was her second race in two days, having finished second woman in a cross-country event at Astwood Park on Saturday. Her time yesterday was 21.15.

She said: "I'm happy with my position. Vic and Jenny were out in front and they are both phenomenal runners. This is one of my favourite races. It has a great vibe and lots of the girls who do it run with their friends. The husbands and boyfriends and families come along to cheer you on, and it's good knowing that the money raised goes to charity."

Yesterday was the 13th time the race has been held, and saw the second highest number of participants with 970 competitors in the 5K race, 5K walk and junior race. The junior race was shortened from a 3K to a 2K and saw a greater number of youngsters compete.

Organised by MAAC, the race directors were Kathy Fulcher, Lesley Caslin and Alison Harvey.

" It is a great event that women like to come out for together. There are mothers and daughters doing it together and we have great sponsorship from PartnerRe and a number of other companies. Butterfield and Vallis have provided a breakfast for the competitors," said Harve

Money raised by the event will go to the Centre Against Abuse, with main sponsor PartnerRe Ltd matching the total raised in entry fees to boost the final donation to the charity.