Sean Trott and Gayle Lindsay boosted their chances of winning the Legends running series by achieving success in the Ray Swan Flat 8K race on Sunday.

The two triumphed in the opening Ed Sherlock 8K last month and preserved their excellent start to the four-race series by storming to victory in the second event, which started at West Pembroke Primary School and finished at Shelly Bay Park.

In windy conditions, Trott, 34, crossed the line 27min 14sec again fighting off strong competition from the resurgent Chayce Smith, who finished 40 seconds behind. Domico Watson finished third in 29:03, followed by Will Green and Philippe Froncioni.

Trott appreciated the challenge from Smith, who has been providing stiff competition in this year’s Legend Series.

“It was a good race considering that I was running into a headwind for most of the way,’’ Trott said.

“It was a good competition and Chayce Smith was pushing. I managed to get away from him probably two miles out and hold it to the finish.

“The temperature was good for running as it was cool conditions, just the wind made it tough, but once I got going it was all right.

“Chayce is in good form right now. He’s definitely been pushing me in all the races so far and hopefully we continue to have these sort of battles.”

Trott attributed his increased pace to hard work in training, as he gears up for the Bermuda Half-Marathon Derby, which is his big target for the year.

“My speed is improving from a lot of training and I've just put my head down for the last six weeks,’’ Trott told The Royal Gazette.

“I’m really looking forward to the Bermuda Day Half-Marathon Derby coming up, so I’ve been doing a lot of miles for that and it helps with this.

“I’ve firmly got my sights on the Bermuda Day Half-Marathon. I’m not doing any international races for now but in the fall I’ll go to the US for the New York Marathon. Until then I’m doing just local races this spring.”

With two straight wins in the series and the same number of races remaining, Trott already has eyes on winning the final race, the Sir Stanley Burgess 5K, which carries increased points.

“I know the last race has double points if you win so it will definitely be a big one to try and win,’’ he said.

Smith, 36, was keen to commend Trott and is looking forward to renewing acquaintances for the rest of the year.

“Finishing second is bothering me because back in the day, Sean and I used to always go into battle, but he’s definitely picked his game up a lot,’’ Smith said.

“I'm coming back and just trying to get the time in to run and mixing my training up a lot. This week was sports day for Francis Patton and I'm a gym teacher so it was a long week on my feet.

“I just had to come out in the wind and did what I had to do. Everything that I'm doing right now, it’s all in preparation for May 24. That race is getting way more competitive than ever now, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Watson, 31, is gearing up for next month’s Boston Marathon and was pleased to have improved on his fifth place in last year’s race.

“I found North Shore too windy and because of that I held back a little bit,’’ Watson said.

“I felt pretty good coming to the finish, starting from the aquarium. It was a good, fun race and we had a lot of people and that made it a good atmosphere.

“I'm using this as training for the Boston Marathon in a couple of weeks, so this is good training for me.”

Lindsay, the female winner of every race in last year’s Legends Series, held off a strong challenge from Christine Dailey to keep her run going.

The 35-year-old crossed the finish line in 30:23 to secure sixth overall and was delighted to finish ahead of Dailey, who finished in the top ten after stopping the clock at 31:26, after she beat her to the finish line in last year’s Athora 8K Run.

“When Christine Dailey is there it’s a really competitive race and I can never take it for granted,’’ Lindsay said.

“It was a little bit windy but it was a great course and I always enjoy that one. Not too many hills so I can try get into a decent pace and hold it.

“Christine was with me for a while and I managed to pull away from her in the last part of the race.

With two more races to go, last year’s Half-Marathon women’s champion is not celebrating just yet.

“I don’t ever underestimate other runners,’’ she added. “It often depends on how you feel on the day.

“I would love to win the next one, take each one as it comes and just go and do my best.”