Joel Melly eased to victory in the Bank of Butterfield Half-Marathon as the Kenyans dominated on the last day of the International Race Weekend.

There were Kenyan one-twos in both the men's and women's races, with Melly leading the way.

The Kenyan was a comfortable winner in the men's race, finishing almost two minutes ahead of countrymen Abraham Ng'etrich in a time of 1:05.51.

Local runner Chris Estwanik came home third after a close finish with another Kenyan, Horan Lagat, which came down to a sprint at the death. It was Estwanik's fourth race in a little more than 36 hours.

Melly and Ng'etrich were neck and neck for much of the race, but Melly upped his pace in the final third and Ng'etrich could not find an extra gear.

"I feel good," said Melly, "but it was a tough race, the course was a hard one. My friend (Ng'etrich) was pushing me, and then we got to 40 minutes and I left him behind. He wasn't really ready for this race, but he tried and he pushed me hard.

"I rested a lot last night, and that helped, but it was a tougher run than I expected. I would like to come back next year though and run again."

As well as finishing third yesterday, Estwanik also wrapped up the Bermuda Triangle Half Challenge title after two good finishes on Friday and Saturday.

"It's been challenging. That's four races in 48 hours, actually it's less than that, Friday night to Sunday morning, that's 36 hours," he said.

"It's been fun. I did exactly what I wanted to do this weekend which was go out and be competitive in all the races and I think the Front Street Mile is still my baby, that's such a wonderful event and I'd love to win it one of these years.

"But it's been good fun. I ran the 10K faster than I did the previous year, so that was a good improvement. The half-marathon today was competitive, but the two guys out front (Melly and Ng'etrich) there was just no way I could catch them, my legs were shot after the last few races and they just took off and I couldn't stay with them.

"Basically there were about eight of us that stayed in a pack for 10 or 11 miles, and then we split up a little bit and Horan Lagat, who I ran with, kicked away from me at the end, but I was able to catch him back on the home stretch."

Salome Kosgei made it a Kenyan triple, winning the women's half-marathon in a time of 1:15.10 to go alongside her second-place in the 10K on Saturday. She finished nearly three minutes ahead of Leah Kiprono, who ran a 1:15.04 over the same distance in 2004.

Victoria Fiddick, who placed second in the local women's mile on Friday night was the first local woman to cross the line in a time of 1:27.26. The 43-year-old, who set a personal best of 5:30 in the mile, was happy with her run and weekend's work in general.

"I set a personal best on Friday, and had a good run today," she said. "It just goes to show that you can still be competitive at 40."

In the various age groups, Bermuda's promising 18-year-old Sean Trott won the 16-19 division after a ninth place finish overall in 1:18:09, and Jay Donawa, winner of last weekend's Fairmont Race, collected the 20-39 title, placing sixth in 1:12:26, just over a minute behind Estwanik, who clocked 1:11:22.

The men's Masters division was dominated by Bermuda runners, Simon Ashby (1:21:06), Geoffrey Blee (1:26:36) and Christopher Page (1:28:11) filling the first three places.

It was the same in the 60-69 group, Will Collieson (1:47:04), Terry Wine (1:49:55) and Mike Rickards (1:57:01) making it a one-two-three for Bermuda.

Former Commonwealth Games triathlete Karen Smith was the first female Master in 1:33:20, followed by another local runner Deborah Blaxell (1:36:55).

Peggy Couper, mother of Ashley Estwanik, triumphed in the over-60 division with a time of 1:47:26.

See 207 more photos at Spotted on the Rock"