Anybody watching the Ed Sherlock 8k on Sunday morning would have been forgiven for thinking it was Groundhog Day as Sean Trott and Gayle Lindsay blitzed to victory.

Both runners entered the first leg of the Swan’s Legends Series as champions after winning the titles in 2024 and they recorded comfortable victories with Trott crossing the line in 27min 59sec, nearly two minutes quicker than his nearest rival.

Lindsay stopped the clock in 30:41 and had a gap of almost three minutes over her closest competitor, with a seventh Legends Series win in a row for her now looking all but inevitable.

However, those used to chasing Trott home may well raise an eyebrow or two at the news that he is not going to compete in enough races this year to be eligible for the overall series prize of $1,000 and an all-expenses paid trip to the largest 10K in the world, the AJC Peachtree Road Race, which takes place in Georgia on July 4.

“I won’t be doing the full series this year as I will be travelling in the second half, so I’ll only be doing the first two races, which is this one and the Ray Swan,” Trott said.

“There are quite a few evenly matched guys so they will probably be competing hard for that title without me.

“I’m going to race a little less this year just to focus on building up to May 24 the right way. I’ll be racing less but probably putting in a bit more effort in the races that I do run.”

Trott finished third in the Bermuda Half-marathon Derby last year and has been placed on a number of occasions but he is trialling a different preparation this year as he attempts to find some improvement.

“Last year I felt I raced a bit too much and when I got to May 24 my legs were a bit dead,” he said.

“I want to save that energy for the big race when it matters most. I’m trying different things because you don’t want to keep doing the same things year in and year out and expect different results. I’m trying to shake things up a bit to hopefully get a bit more out of myself.”

As for the Ed Sherlock 8K, which involved a loop around South Shore and Middle Road, Trott faced a lonely road to the finish after breaking clear early to finish a long way clear of 55-year old Christopher Harris in second (29:34) and 17-year-old Jake Smith (30:06), who finished third.

“I’m happy with my time,” Trott said.

“I found myself alone from the start. I was hoping to go a bit quicker but being by myself you really have to focus and stay locked in to run a faster time. The plan was to was always go out on my own and I had an ambitious goal to get down into the low 27s, but with some of the hills and without company I fell off a bit.

“As for the conditions, I couldn’t have asked for a better day to do it. It wasn’t too windy, too hot or too cold so it was a great day.”

Sadly for Teresa Ruiz (33:10) and Stepanka Sprincova (33:31), who finished second and third respectively in the women’s race, there is no such hope with Lindsay set to be a permanent fixture in the four races in the series.

“My intention at the moment is to run them all,” Lindsay said.

“I really enjoyed the race today. We were blessed with a beautiful morning for it, perhaps slightly warmer than I was expecting. It's a tough course, particularly with all the big hills coming in the second half. I think I paced it well, though, and I am happy with my run.”

Lindsay was particularly pleased to receive her winning prize from the man the race is named after, with Ed Sherlock on hand to greet the athletes home.

“To have Ed Sherlock present the trophy at the prize giving is an honour and it's so nice that Swan’s have this series to celebrate some of Bermuda's greatest running legends,” she said.

The next race in the Legends Series takes place on March 23 with the Ray Swan 8K. That race starts at West Pembroke Primary School and finishes at Shelly Bay parking lot.