Chris Estwanik has etched his name forever in the annals of the Bermuda Half-Marathon Derby history after romping home to three successive race victories.

The defending champion yesterday joined an exclusive club of runners including Terrance Armstrong, Kavin Smith and Ed Sherlock by becoming only the seventh man to claim a trio of consecutive May 24 titles.

Estwanik's one-man show saw him reaffirm his status as Bermuda's current king of the roads, finishing the 13.1 mile course a little over two minutes ahead of professional triathlete Tyler Butterfield.

Cheered on by hundreds of spectators who braved the wet and blustery conditions, the former Team Nike Farm runner completed the race in a time of 1:08.47, just short of his previous best, which is a course record.

Leading from start to finish, Estwanik galloped into a significant lead by the time he had reached Scaur Hill making a mockery of the pre-race talk of a three-horse battle.

Butterfield and Lamont Marshall were simply never in the hunt.

Marshall was the next of the best for much of the race but surrendered his second position to Butterfield whose extra power paid off as the pair entered the city of Hamilton.

Estwanik said the rain had made the road slippery, reducing the traction underfoot as he ran.

He also worked to position himself near to walls and hedgerows in places as he tried to minimise the effect of the strong headwind on parts of the course.

It wasn't until he was heading in to Hamilton in the final miles that he was aware how close he was to beating his own course record.

"I was shocked when I looked at my watch at 11 miles and realised I could break the record, because before then I had just about given up on doing that," he said.

"I was wondering about where Tyler (Butterfield) and Lamont (Marshall) were behind me. I hadn't gotten any feedback on the course, so I didn't know if they were 20 seconds behind me or four minutes behind."

Butterfield posted a time of 1:11.01, while third place Marshall finished in 1:12.24.

To complete a memorable day for the Estwanik household, Ashley Estwanik also cruised to victory in the women's contest to shatter the race record she set back in 2008.

Despite her mammoth win, Estwanik said she still had not perfected long-distance race tactics.

"I'm still learning. Chris and I are both shorter distance runners by trade, we were milers back in the day," said Estwanik, who came seventh overall in 1:21.58 seconds.

"He's probably learned a little bit faster than me, so I'm learning to rein it back and take it a little bit easier."

Last year's women's winner Victoria Fiddick came second in 1:27.43, while Karen Bordage finished third in 1:30.17.