Jay Donawa has confessed the truth behind his surprise New York Marathon run was in fact a drunken bet with his Island Games team-mates in Rhodes.

While celebrating Bermuda's medal yield at a restaurant on the picturesque Greek island in July, Donawa was challenged to run his first competitive marathon by fellow distance runners Terrance Armstrong, Ricky Sousa and Geoff Blee.

Donawa, never one to duck a challenge, duly accepted and sealed the gentleman's agreement by signing a crumpled napkin as a makeshift contract.

Just for good measure Bermuda's cross-country king finished ahead of all three of his 'accomplices' in the 'five boroughs' race last weekend coming an impressive 107th, and admits he has now caught the marathon bug.

"The reason I ran the marathon was because of a drunken bet with Ricky Sousa, Geoff Blee and Terrance Armstrong," said Donawa. "Terrance had just won gold in the half-marathon and I had won bronze so we all went out for a meal to celebrate.

"After a couple of drinks they challenged me run the New York Marathon. If I didn't, or failed to finish, I'd have had to allow those guys to beat me in a local race. Well, there was no way I was going to let that happen and that's how it materialised. I even signed an agreement on a napkin so I 'd no choice but to uphold the bet."

Bermuda's national cross-country champion for the past seven years clocked two hours, 39 minutes and 56 seconds and was the 100th male to finish the 26.2-mile race out of 39,000 starters.

Armstrong, who was four minutes ahead of Donawa at the half-marathon mark, fell behind with half a mile remaining suffering with cramp, while Sousa came in with a time of 2:56:43 and Blee recorded 3:09:10.

For Donawa the step up to the longer distance was also an experiment with little emphasis on time or position. The 34-year-old had been unable to train sufficiently for the marathon, one of the world's greatest road races, because of a calf injury.

"I didn't really tell many people I was going over to compete, I wanted to keep it low-key," said Donawa. "It went with the view to dip my toe in the water and hoped for a positive experience. I've never competed in a competitive marathon before, never mind abroad with 39,000 starters.

"I always said if I was ever to run a marathon it would be New York, that really pushed me as well. My summer injury prevented me training as I'd have liked, I under-trained going into the race. But I ran within myself and overall I was delighted with how things went. Physically I found my body was mature enough to handle the distance and held up well."

Donawa, one of the Island's top road runners, now plans to return to the Big Apple next year for its marathon and has not ruled out more attempts at the longer distance in the future.

"Next year I want to prepare properly and have a far more tactical race with a proper strategy," he added. "You could say the bet made with Terrance, Geoff and Ricky was a good one to honour because I've caught the marathon bug."