For once it wasn't the race winner who turned the most heads in the Crime Stoppers 5K road race, but the runner who came third, wearing pink Bermuda shorts and yellow socks.

It is unlikely defending champion Lamont Marshall had much opportunity to see the unusually dressed competitor in his wake. By the time Marshall had crested the first hill along Church Street on this year's re-routed course he was already on his own.

But the chasing pack made for an interesting sight with British visitor Alex Vero standing out wearing a pair of of brightly-coloured borrowed Bermuda shorts that clashed with his yellow socks. He looked far from a savvy athlete, but looks can be deceptive for the Londoner is currently attempting to qualify for the Beijing Olympics marathon and just seven days previously had run one hour, 13 minutes in the Amsterdam half-marathon.

On another day Vero may well have sprung a surprise in the road race season opener, but not with the likes of Marshall in such fine form.

Having set a personal best in the New York Fifth Avenue Mile last month, where he ran 4:15, Marshall blasted away from Sunday's race field and was soon a lone figure disappearing into the distance along East Broadway.

Without any pursuers close enough to worry about Marshall's finishing time of 15:57 suggests he eased back in the later stages, running around 50 seconds slower than his 2006 winning time when he had duelled with Jay Donawa all the way to the finish.

In the final mile the chasing pack featured the nattily-attired Vero and Andrew Haak. It was Haak who summoned the superior speed to claim second place in 17:50, while Vero ducked under 18 minutes in 17:59.

Vero set his 5K best last week during the Amsterdam half-marathon where he ran 16:20 for the intermediate split.

The freelance film-maker is filming a documentary entitled The Road to Beijing, which analyses the fall in competitiveness amongst British marathoners from the 1980s, when around 200 were able to run sub-2:20 times, to the present day when only four can do so.

He has set himself the challenge of improving his own running over a two-year period to see if he can make the Olympic Games qualifying standard. While on holiday in Bermuda he decided to enter the Crime Stoppers event on a whim.

"I borrowed the shorts. I had some running shoes with me for playing golf and doing some jogging," he said afterwards.

"This was a fun run while on holiday. It was hard work." Wearing the knee-length pink Bermuda shorts meant his normal leg range while running was restricted.

"It was also hard because of the heat. It felt so humid to me," said Vero, who hopes to come out in January for the Bermuda International Race Weekend to run the half-marathon, with a goal of a 1:10 finish time.

In the women's race PartnerRe 5K champion Victoria Fiddick was a comfortable winner in 18:46, having battled in the latter stages with the resurgent Rolf Runkel, who recently ran a 3:11 marathon and completed last weekend's Escape to Bermuda triathlon.

Fiddick said: "I had a good race. There was a bunch of men in front and I was trying to race them and then I had Rolf beside me. Even with the hills this year - the first mile was mostly uphill - it was a great time."

Second and third in the women's race were Alison Harvey and Rosa Peichoto in 20:31 and 20:39 respectively.

This year's 5K was re-routed because The Bermuda Regiment was practising on Front Street for the opening ceremony of the new parliamentary session.

• Otis Robinson sat out yesterday's race, having returned late on Saturday from winning the Dover Renaissance 5K in New Jersey. He clocked 16:57 for the GPS recorded-distance 5K distance, although the official time for the over-length race was 17:18.

He had gone into the event focussed and remembering his late mother, whose birthday was the day before. Robinson said: "The first mile was 4:47, two miles at 10:27 and three in 16:19. It rained for the whole race. My time was my second fastest. The course was not totally certified as they had to change it at the last minute because one of the bridges was out, which was a little disappointing."

There were 97 finishers.