after admitting to race organisers that he had taken a lift during the event.

However, Kris Martin, a well-known footballer with Dandy Town, but not regarded for his prowess on the road-running circuit, claimed there had been an administrative error which caused him to be recorded as finishing 11th.

Contacted by The Royal Gazette , Martin was bemused by the fuss, saying: "I didn't come first.'' He added: "It wasn't my fault and I didn't lie to anyone.'' The incident came to light when other runners contacted the newspaper after seeing the full results, which were published yesterday.

One said: "I was running with him at one stage and had seen him pull out.

Later, on Harbour Road, he came up behind me and told me that he had got a lift and was running unofficially.

"He said they had taken his number. I left him on Harbour Road and then some other people on Front Street said they saw him ahead of me again. Then I saw the results in the paper. I think it may just have been a mistake on the organisers' behalf.'' Race organisers immediately launched an investigation and finally managed to contact Martin, who was apologetic and claimed he had not been trying to hoodwink anybody.

Martin, who had initially broken down with cramps near Port Royal gas station, added that as far as he had been aware he had been disqualified as soon as he accepted the lift on the truck.

He said that he was running without a number from then on and was not wearing it when he finished.

"It was a mistake at their end,'' he claimed. "I told them that I had been disqualified but perhaps because they knew who I was they put my name down in 11th.'' Race director Richard Tucker agreed that there "must have been a slip-up somewhere''.

"There must have been some sort of error in the chute area,'' he said. It is the third time in two years of the historic annual event that race officials have been forced to probe allegations of rule infringements.

Last year fifth placed David House, from Ontario, became embroiled in a post-race controversy when it was revealed that he had broken race rules which require runners to have been resident on the Island for a minimum of six months. House had only been in Bermuda for several weeks.

But his position was allowed to stand after it was discovered that there was no section on the entry form calling for that information.

Also last year, a charity runner unwittingly sparked an investigation after a spectator -- an off-duty policeman -- fingered him as a cheat when he spotted him joining the race at the roundabout near Crow Lane.

The man had been included among the individual finishers, but it later transpired that he had been running with several others after somebody within the race committee gave them the go-ahead to compete as a relay team for multiple sclerosis.