Baruch Spinoza, the 17th century Dutch philosopher once wrote: "There is no hope without fear, and no fear without hope."

Fear played an essential role in the emergence of Dmitry Maximov as the star of Bermuda International Race Weekend 2002 after he became the first man to complete the 10K and Half-Marathon double yesterday.

The weekend began inauspiciously for the 24-year-old Russian as he failed to complete the Elite Invitational Mile after the torrid pace set by the record-setting Leonard Mucheru, of Kenya, on Friday night.

But recover he did, with an impressive victory on Saturday over Kenya's Sammy N'geno followed by a courageous triumph yesterday in the face of a double assault by Julius Gwako and James Kuria Karanja, two of six runners invited from the East African athletics powerhouse.

Gwako set much of the early pace, among a breakaway group that also included Maximov, Karanja, David Morris, the former US marathon record-holder, Eddy Hellebuyck, the 1994 marathon winner here, and Neals Strik, of Holland.

Karanja took up the challenge through eight miles and made his move with a little more than three miles remaining, with the Russian the only rival to respond.

Maximov covered a series of mini-surges by Karanja as they worked their way through Spanish Point and into the final uphill segment of the 13.1-mile course along Pitts Bay Road, before edging in front at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel and producing a burst of speed near the Woodbourne Avenue junction, about 800 metres from the finish, that the Kenyan was unable to answer.

His time of one hour, seven minutes and 24 seconds was the second-fastest in the brief 10-year history of the half-marathon - John Kipkoskei, of Kenya, won in 1:06:34 in 1995 - but such a distinction was barely a flicker in Maximov's thought process a week ago.

"Three days before coming here I turned over my ankle in training," he said through an interpreter. "The mile is much faster and I was afraid that if I finished the mile I might be injured. I came mainly for the 10K and in the half-marathon I thought I could run well, and if I won it would be a bonus."

The young man's bonus, drug-test results pending, will be worth $2,000 for which he is extremely grateful. "I am a professional runner and need to support my family," he said.

Karanja finished four seconds behind in 1:07:28 with Strik, having made a break from the trail pack, taking third in 1:08:47. Morris was fourth in 1:09:12 and Gwako fifth in 1:09:32 but Terrance Armstrong, the Bermuda runner, capped a fine comeback from injury by placing sixth in 1:15:51 with Jay Donawa seventh in 1:17:36. Hellebuyck, who complained later of calf problems, completed the elite field in eighth place in 1:20:25.

Maximov added that he was lucky that the tactical beginning prompted a pace with which he felt comfortable. "The early pace was very slow, which was good for me after yesterday's race," he said. "I was able to keep pace and then run with the Kenyan (Karanja).

"I was a little afraid when the Kenyan man went even faster but I hoped that if I could keep the pace up until before the finish line I could beat him. When I went past him I knew he couldn't catch me because he had tired."

Karanja attributed the stiff headwind along North Shore as the reason why he could not shake the Russian, try as he might. "It was so windy," he said. "When I started pushing the pace I hurt my leg so I decided to come in at a slower pace until later. I'm happy because I was not sure I could run well in these conditions."

Armstrong, who was fourth in the Elite Invitational Mile and seventh in the 10K, was the local success story after an injury-ravaged 2001. He caught and passed Donawa a half-hour into the race and ran comfortably enough to suggest he could be a force when fully fit.

"I kind of surprised myself a little bit," he said in assessing his weekend. "Today was more or less a training run to get some distance running. I wanted to run 5:40 pace, 5:45 and I managed to do that pretty comfortably. Overall, the fitness is coming so I just have to take my time and let it progress as it comes."

The 30-year-old will feature in the Millrose Games 3,000 metres on February 1 and then plans to look forward to the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, in July.

Donawa appeared disappointed with his performance but, while remaining determined to succeed, he paid gracious tribute to Armstrong. "When Terrance and I came together I wanted to work with him but I couldn't maintain the pace," he said. "I suffered all weekend, I'm not going to make any excuses. I'm going to regroup from this and reassess my goals and priorities and go from there.

"Terrance had a good weekend and I'm very happy for him after he had been injured all summer. He and I communicate a lot, so when he got injured I knew he was down a lot. So it's good to see him bounce back from the injury and get his running back on the right track."

The women's race was virtually a non-event as Kim Maddic, of the United States, ran unchallenged to win in a relatively pedestrian time of 1:22:17, the third-slowest winning time in the event.

"The time was slow but I expected that from the tough course with the hills and the strong headwind on the North Shore," Maddic said. "But I felt good. It was tough because I was running by myself quite a bit. I tried to tuck in behind the two marathon leaders but the pace was too much so I just relaxed and tried to maintain."

Bermuda's Anna Eatherley (1:27:51) was second, which more significantly for her clinched a hat-trick of local wins on the weekend, and Lynn Patchett, of Bermuda, was third in 1:28:07.