The 2026 RenaissanceRe 5/10 Mile Challenge was a truly memorable one for Maddie and Colette Durkin, who claimed female honours in their respective races.

Mother Maddie topped the women’s field in the 10-mile race with a winning time of 1hr 4min 13sec, while daughter Colette did likewise in the 5-mile race in 37:07 to cap a highly successful day for the family.

“I always do triathlon races here but I am only just back into doing the running races after taking a bunch of years off,” Maddie told The Royal Gazette.

“I have made a commitment to do more of that and I am excited because Colette is also enthused to do more running races, so I get to compete together with my daughter, which makes it so much fun for me.

“The win was obviously exciting and it’s always nice to win, but today was really more about the effort and the participation in being there with my daughter.

“It wasn’t a PB performance, but I did what my goal was, so I am really happy about that.“

Fresh off representing Bermuda at the Carifta Aquatics Championships in Martinique, Warwick Academy student Colette was happy to secure women’s honours on her race debut.

“I came back from swimming Carifta and was pretty tired, so I was a bit nervous for this five mile considering it was my first time and I just got back,” she said.

“I think I went out a bit hard but now I know for next time just off the experience. Another thing was that I forgot my watch, so I was running blind which was also pretty hard, but it was a fun experience and I am proud of myself and really happy I won.”

Stepanka Sprincova (1:06.54) finished runner-up in the women’s 10-mile race and Teresa Ruiz (1:08.08) was third.

Anna Laura Hocking (37.46) finished second in the 5-mile women’s field with Holly Bruton (38.26) rounding off the podium finishers in third.

Dennis Mbelenzi led the entire field home in the 10- mile race to claim his first win in the event in 53:55.

The Kenya-born runner cut a lonely figure for the majority of the race after pulling away from fellow pre-race favourites Sean Trott and Kallan Richardson heading to the third mile and gradually widened the gap to take the win comfortably.

Mbelenzi was delighted to pick up a second straight race win after winning the his first Ed Sherlock 8K title the previous weekend.

“This is my first time winning this race and I am happy to have won it,” he said.

“They have a list of those who have won it in the past which is really esteemed company to be in; the likes of Chris Estwanik, Kavin Smith, Jay Donawa and a few other greats.”

Trott finished runner-up in 56:16 followed by Richardson (56:59).

Race debutant Richardson was happy with his performance as he continues to fine tune his preparation for the Bermuda Half Marathon Derby next month.

“I feel pretty good and happy with how it went,” he said.

“I tried to cover Dennis’ move, which didn’t work out. But I’m happy that I made that decision to allow me to see where I am, what my strengths are and what I need to work on going into May 24,” he said

“Things are starting to add up and I’ve been pretty consistent throughout the training block. Things are starting to look pretty good and I’m starting to feel more confident about being able to stick in the race this year and just see how it goes.”