For those of you wondering why the roads by the south entrance of Botanical Gardens were not fully open yesterday morning, there were 79 intrepid runners taking part in the Hannover Re Half Marathon.

Raising money for Friends of Hospice and the Bermuda Athletic Association, the race was a true test and came down to a battle between two old rivals. Thomas Mills and Seamus Fearon have been battling it out at the top in runs on the island with Fearon prevailing by ten seconds in the Athora 8k run last week, but Mills turned the tables over this longer distance, winning by nearly three minutes in a time of 1hr 13mins and 33secs.

Moses Mufandaedza finished third with Phillip Woollins and Will Green rounding off the top five.

Just outside those first five places was Maddie Durkin, who finished sixth overall and won the women’s race after completing the 13-mile course in 1:25:39. She finished less than 30 seconds clear of Rose-Anna Hoey with Bella Wright home in third after finishing tenth in the race overall.

Formerly the second-oldest continually-held road race in Bermuda after the inaugural event was run in 1972, it has now assumed the mantle of the oldest after the Bermuda Half-Marathon Derby, which had been an annual event since 1909, could not take place in 2020 as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.

Race director Dirk Hasselkuss was pleased with the way the day panned out.

“It was fantastic, it was a beautiful day with perfect weather conditions and the runners were all excited about running,” Hasselkuss said.

“We had close to 90 sign-ups and you always have a few no-shows on the day, so we’re quite happy. This is not an event that will attract hundreds of runners, it’s a half marathon and is really geared to the running community. It’s very important for us to keep this event going.

“It has quite a tradition and Hannover Re took over the event about 15 years ago and we were really lucky that duriung Covid and the government lockdowns, we were able to host it with a large-group exemption. We changed the racecourse then so we needed fewer volunteers and have kept it that way since.

“The runners get to have a fantastic event and as a company we have kept sign-up fees to a minimum, we haven’t raised them for donkeys’ years. I’m proud that a company like Hannover Re is willing to be the title sponsor. My colleagues from the office are volunteers and man the junctions and water stations to keep everyone safe and hydrated and today was just a beautiful day.