Sean Trott ran away with the Hannover Re/BNAA Half-Marathon title yesterday, overcoming extremely high humidity to win the event for the second time.Triathlete Karen Smith took the women’s crown, while Stephen Allen and Catherine Mello were the respective men’s and women’s champions in the shorter 10K event.And a small group of New York Marathon refugees set out on the course before dawn to complete their 26.2-mile marathon dream, having been unable to do so in New York earlier this month when the world famous race was cancelled due to superstorm Sandy.The marathoners were well on their way when the main half-marathon and 10K races got underway on South Road near the Botanical Gardens.In the opening stages Trott ran in the company of eventual 10K winner Stephen Allen, but was out on his own after four miles when Allen reached the turnaround point for the shorter race and headed back to the finish.Trott continued on the half-marathon route and eventually clocked a time of one hour 16 minutes and 51 seconds, just over a minute outside his 2010 course record.It was an impressive performance on a warm morning with the humidity count above 90 percent.Defending champion Gideon Kigotho and last year’s runner-up Simon Ashby ran together for much of the race before Ashby opened up daylight between the pair coming down McGall’s Hill with two miles remaining. He finished runner-up in 1.25.32 with Kigotho next home, 11 seconds in arrears.Triathlete Karen Smith was the fastest woman and was ninth overall in 1.34.07, beating Christina Dotson (1.43.55) and Gemma O’Brien (1.46.26).In the 10K Allen was supreme in 33.52, having broken away from his nearest rival Evan Naude during the first part of the race. Naude lost a few seconds early on when one of his shoelaces came undone, but admitted that made no difference in the end as Allen pushed ahead to win by nearly two minutes. Naude was runner-up in 35.44, with senior master Ricky Sousa third in 43.10.Fastest women was Catherine Mello, eighth overall in 46.32 who did enough to stay ahead of Kathleen Thompson, who finished in 46.49. Third place went to master runner Jenene Douglas in 47.38.Race director Spencer Conway, in his first year overseeing the event, decided to give Island athletes who missed out on this month’s New York Marathon the opportunity to complete the distance by adding a last minute marathon to yesterday’s event. The full distance competitors started their race at 6.15am, and eight finished to be rewarded with actual New York City Marathon 2012 medals.“The New York group have been training up and down here (South Road) for the New York Marathon. We knew there might by 10 or 20 of them who still wanted to do a marathon,” said Conway, who added that the runners were overjoyed at being given the opportunity.Jon Smith, completing the marathon distance for the first time, was the fastest on the day in 3.52.30.After finishing he spoke of the camaraderie that has built up among the New York group and how going out running before sunrise had been the norm for them as they trained during the summer.Speaking of the New York Marathon, which was cancelled due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, he said: “In the week before I had mixed feelings about the race. It was the right decision to cancel it. It would not have felt right to run a marathon in those conditions.“I accepted that and was happy just to leave it. Then a few days after we got back someone said we should tag a marathon on to this event. I’m delighted they did.”Smith used water stations provided on the half-marathon route, which he and the others ran around twice, but also placed his own water bottles at strategic spots on the route to aid his marathon effort. He said runners in the shorter races had offered welcome encouragement as they passed the marathoners on the course.Race director Conway said the marathon might become a permanent feature of the Hannover Re/BNAA event.Dirk Hasselkuss, of sponsors Hannover Re, was delighted with the way the races had been organised. “It is popular and it’s a great course with a good atmosphere.”Hasselkuss ran in the half-marathon, a day after a five-hour bike ride, as final preparation for the Cozumel Ironman event in Mexico this coming weekend.