Newly-crowned Heritage Junior Classic road race champion Henry Carty will have plenty to tell his Kennesaw Mountain High School classmates when he returns to studies in Atlanta, Georgia.

The 15-year-old rising track star ran away with last month's two-mile Heritage race, winning in a time of 10 minutes and 44 seconds, 10 ten seconds shy of the race record set in 1998 by Mark Morrison.

Carty, nephew of former Dandy Town siblings Kurt, Kent and Chris Martin, has shown dramatic improvement since making track and field and road running his priority rather than football, having earlier this year set new 800 metres, 1600m, 400m and 5K records at his school before adding a maiden Heritage Junior Classic title to his impressive collection at the first attempt.

The youngster said his goal all along was to win the race and show his fellow countrymen some of the skills he has acquired abroad training on what he believes is "a whole different level".

"My number one goal was to come back and win the race and so I knew I had to go out there and accomplish it," he said. "I really wanted to show Bermuda what I can bring.

"It was very pleasing to win the race and actually get the time to come back and compete. I feel the experience allowed me to see the other talent Bermuda has to offer and see what I've accomplished from training abroad.

"Being able to come back and win a race shows the difference between racing in the States and racing in Bermuda. It was a very exciting experience and the crowds kept me going.

"I had family and friends cheering me on and it was quite an experience that you don't get abroad because you don't have that sort of support out there cheering you on."

Carty was one of many promising athletes who impressed during last month's Bermuda Day celebrations, perhaps a sign of better things to come in the sport.

"I think Bermuda road running has a very bright future because we have a lot of young runners who have moved up (to the senior level) who got a lot of exposure and ran well this year," he added.

The grandson of ex-Social Club footballer Mel Bowen, he won the Heritage Race by a comfortable 18 seconds over nearest rival Juma Mouchette (11:02 seconds), with Ryan Furbert (11:10) finishing third.

Girls honours went to Rachel Fox (12:59), followed by Rayni Maybury (13:20) in second and Megan Berry (14:08) in third.

Carty won't be eligible to defend his title next year but already he has his sights set on lifting the Men's Bermuda Day Half-Marathon Derby crown – before he reaches the age of 20!

And despite coming up just short of at least equalling the Heritage Classic race record, a mark the Kennesaw High student felt was well within striking distance, Carty remained optimistic.

"Had I known ahead of time exactly what I had to do to achieve the record, I might've pushed myself harder," he said. "The record was in reaching distance, but things happen."