A rain-soaked crowd were rewarded for their patience last night as defending Front Street Mile champion James Thie outfought Kenyan Elkanah Angwenyi to produce a grandstand finish to International Race Weekend's opening night.

With Bermudian Olympic hope Ashley Couper leading a procession in the women's race and perennial bridesmaid Sheldon Thompson finally getting his first crown with room to spare in the men's, the night was in desperate need of a tight finish.

And the smaller than usual crowd was given just that as Welshman Thie battled the appalling conditions on the final straight to overpower the African, the night's surprise package, to retain his title in four minutes, 18.81 seconds.

Playing a waiting game after the second turn, the 25-year-old Briton left Angwenyi's shoulder with 200 metres to go and powered home with enough left in the tank to cheekily stick out a tongue as he passed the Flagpole. The Kenyan finished in 4.19.26.

“I just want to thank the crowd out there,” said the Welshman, who has already committed to return next year when he hopes conditions will allow him a crack at the four-minute mile.

“I think I shaved a couple of seconds off my time with the support. It was a strange race with the Kenyans not going out as fast as they did last year.

“After the turn Elkanah put in quite a kick but I stayed with him. When it is that windy you have to be careful not to try and force it and I just stayed on his shoulder until I could push for the line.”

Angwenyi, running his first race outside Kenya, made quite an impact on his debut, beating perennial runner-up Christian Hesch (4.26.25) into third - the American's prediction that he “wouldn't come second again this year” proving to be accurate.

A field of only six competed in the night's showpiece event with record-holder Leonard Mucheru failing to appear.

Bermudians Terrance Armstrong (4.43.58) and Michael Donawa (4.47.50) brought up the rear on a fierce night for running with driving rain, 54 degree temperatures and a gusting wind doing little to aid the competitors.

Earlier the crowd had been treated to an expected victory by Couper in the women's race. With the conditions making a record attempt “insane” despite her incredibly quick wind-assisted middle straight, the 25-year-old freely admits that she enjoyed the event more than last year, even breaking into a rare race smile as her friends cheered her on from the Docksiders bar.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself last year to break the record but that was never going to happen this time around,” she said after retaining her crown with room to spare in 5.09.44 - 19 seconds ahead of Joanna Shillington (5.28.33).

“Although I am not as happy after the race as I was last time, I think I enjoyed it out there more. It was nice to have my Mum and Dad and my friends out cheering me on.

“I treated this like a little adventure. The weather was just ridiculous up to the first turn and coming back it was joke.”

Sheldon Thompson, six times runner-up, eventually picked up his first win in the event after a heavy two months of training overcoming what he described as a “mental block” to take the title in 4.49.98 ahead of Simon Turner who broke five minutes for the first time with 4.57.91.

“I've been second so many times it is a great feeling to finally come out on top,” said Thompson.

In the junior races, Flora Duffy retained the under-18 girls title in 5.33.62, her final appearance in the race before heading off to school in England.

Taijaun Talbot waltzed the under-18 boys race in 4:56.43 while the two under-12 events went to Ashley Berry in the girls section in 6.20.81 and Trey Simons - who has already picked up the nickname ‘Animal' - won the boys in 5.41.88.