Visitor Nick Despres, a late entrant, caught local runners by surprise as he romped to victory in yesterday's annual Evian 10-miler, completing the distance in 55 minutes and 54 seconds.

The 40-year-old, who works for the Bank of Bermuda in Guernsey whom he hopes to represent in the half-marathon at this summer's Small Island Games, pulled away from the field at the six-mile mark and never looked back.

"I was pretty tired at the end, I'm glad there was no-one right behind me," he said afterwards. "But I enjoyed it, I didn't know what to expect when I entered."

Despres, who only arrived on the Island at the weekend, set the pace with Sylvester Jean-Pierre and Sheldon Thompson during the first half of the race before making his break.

Jean-Pierre followed him home in 57.43 with Thompson taking third in 58.09.

Among the women, Anna Eatherley successfully defended her title although she was chased all the way to the finish line by Lynn Patchett, who later yesterday competed in the Front Street cycle races.

Eatherley clocked 63.34 with Patchett just 11 seconds behind in 63.45. Kim McMullen placed third in 66.48.

The 23rd running of the event saw competitors follow the traditional route from the Botanical Gardens on South Shore out to Tucker's Town and back again.

Full results

See Scoreboard.