A year after collapsing just short of the finish line, Jennifer Alen got it right this time as she stormed to her second PartnerRe 5K title without mishap on a hot and humid morning.Twelve months ago dehydration stopped Alen in her tracks as she appeared set to retain her 2010 title. The memory of that incident was still on Alen’s mind as she led the biggest field of runners in the PartnerRe 5K’s history, but she did not let it distract her from claiming victory in a time of 19 minutes and 27 seconds.Early on she was in a leading group that also featured past winner Victoria Fiddick, Deon Breary, Kristyn Robinson and eventual runner-up Hilda Stoney.At an uphill section near the half-way point Alen edged ahead and stayed in front for the remainder of the race as it wound down South Road, past the Botanical Gardens, up Tee Street and Berry Hill Road before finishing in the Gardens.“I did not want to run too hard because it was the first race of the season and I’ve not done many mile reps in training. I also didn’t take part in the New York (Fifth Avenue) Mile this year, so I’ve not got a lot of speed,” she said.Nevertheless, she was pleased with her performance and anticipates concentrating on shorter distance events in the near future.Hilda Stoney, runner-up in the women-only race, is currently deep into her training schedule for next month’s New York Marathon and went into yesterday’s event on the back of a 60-mile training week. She controlled her pace and moved into second place with one kilometre remaining before chalking up her first sub-20 minute finish, stopping the clock at 19.41.Stoney paid tribute to her coach Rose-Anna Hoey, who has guided her training for the past 14 weeks.“I have to credit her. I’ve improved so much and have added two speed sessions a week.”Early in the race she found the pace of the lead group to be slower than expected. “I felt I could kick a lot more,” she said.“I always find this race a hard one to run a personal best on because of the course and it being one of the first races of the season.”Third place went to Kristyn Robinson in 19.55. The next three across the line were all masters, with former May 24 women’s champions Victoria Fiddick (20.15) and Deon Breary (20.20) just ahead of triathlon specialist Karen Smith (20.24).There were 372 finishers in the 5K run, with a total of 1,100 people taking part in all the morning’s events, which included a competitive and non-competitive 5K walk and a junior 2K race.Overall top three in the junior 2K race was Ashley Irby (Saltus) first in 6.42, Lynsey Palmer (Saltus) second in 6.42, and Paige Burton (Warwick) in 7.02.The first three in the 7-10 age division were Selah Tuzo (Northlands) in 7.26, Jessie Marshall (Saltus) in 7.36 and Gianna Webbe (Warwick) in 7.53.First home in the competitive 5K walk was Winnelle Simons in 34.47, followed by Davina Dickinson in 34.52 and Sheena Young in 35.31.