Husband and wife Chris and Ashley Estwanik achieved another one-two on the Island road running scene by claiming the top two spots in the 8th annual RMS Construction 10K race yesterday.

Chris led the way in the race, which was actually 65 metres over distance, as he stopped the clock at 30 minutes 45 seconds with no rival near enough to pressure him.

His nearest competition was Ashley. She came home second overall in 36.09 having run in the company of the lead runners in the 20K event, held in conjunction with the 10K, for the first five miles before pushing ahead on her own.

There were 180 finishers in the two races, which were held in near perfect race conditions.

In the longer event a two-way battle developed between Tony Banks and Stephen Allen, with Banks edging ahead by the completion of the first of the two laps.

He stretched his lead to almost a minute-and-a-half by the end of the race as he recorded a winning time of 1.13.50 to Allen's 1.15.16.

The women's 20K was won by Vivienne Lochhead in an impressive 1.26.39.

Chris Estwanik achieved his intention of running 4.55-minute miles to win the 10K.

He said he feels he is a stronger athlete now as a result of focusing his training towards longer distances.

However, the trade off has been a drop in his pure speed running ability, as he noted: "It is harder now to run a 4.30-mile compared to how it used to for me."

His immediate target is the May 24 Half Marathon Derby, which he has won for the past two years.

He did not taper down for Sunday's race and went into it on the back of three workouts during the previous week.

Of May 24 he said: "Last year I think I was too aggressive in the first half of the race. My perfect race would be to go out at five-minute miles and hold that pace."

Ashley Estwanik was equally satisfied with her time in the 10K, winning the women's event by 12 minutes.

She also wondered if she may have actually achieved a sub-36 time for the 10K distance as the final 65 metres 'over-distance' for the runners featured a short but steep uphill to the finish line.

"My goal was to go out really hard. I did 5.40 for the first mile, which was a bit too fast as I was trying to stay at around 5.45," she said.

For the first five miles she ran alongside 20K leader Tony Banks before pulling ahead. Like her husband, she is aiming for a good performance in the May 24 Derby, with an ambition to better her 2008 winning time.

In the 20K race Tony Banks set his sights on a sub-1.15 time and achieved that by just over a minute.

He said: "On the first lap I was keeping up with Ashley, which I was happy with, until she went away at five miles. I knew Stephen (Allen) was only 10 or 15 seconds behind me at the halfway, so I pushed a bit harder in the first few miles on the second lap, but the heat was starting to get to me.

"In the last mile I pushed again as I could see I could get under 1.14 and I knew Stephen wasn't that far behind. He always tends to beat me in the shorter races such as 5K and 10K."

Allen said he was happy with his finishing time, having kept Banks in his sights for most of the race and said it was good to see the 20K a fairly closely run race.

First woman in the longer event was Vivienne Lochhead. She was 10th overall and ran much of the race in the company of Chris Page.

Afterwards she said: "I ran with a pack to begin with and then hung on. Chris helped me all the way.

"I ran an even pace all the way. I slowed a little in the second half, and mile 11 was difficult."

Age group winners (10K):

Women: (19-39) Ashley Estwanik 36.09;(40-49) Rebecca Kuruvilla 48.49; (50-59) Heather Brain 53.11.

Men: (18 and under) Shawn Herman 38.40; (19-39) Chris Estwanik 30.45; (40-49) Chris Harris 36.14; (50-59) Paul Singh 59.57; (60 and over) Clinton Curtis 1.02.14.

Age group winners (20K):

Women: (19-39) Vivienne Lochhead 1.26.39; (40-49) Deborah Blaxell 1.35.32; (50-59) Lynn Norman 1.56.51; (60 and over) Peggy Couper 1.49.43.

Men: (18 and under) Marcus Smith 2.24.35; (19-39) Tony Banks 1.13.50; (40-49) Simon Ashby 1.18.16; (50-59) Sylvester Jean-Pierre 1.16.49; (60 and over) Terry Wine 1.43.18.