Diriba Degefa Yigezu won the Half-Marathon yesterday and laid claim to being one of the greatest runners in the history of the Bermuda Marathon Weekend in the process.

The Ethiopian became only the second runner to win all three titles — the KPMG Front Street Mile, the 10K and the Half-Marathon — in the same year, after Kenyan Shadrack Biwot completed the previously unique feat in 2010.

Yigezu blew away his opponents, as he did all weekend, posting a time of 1hr 05min 54.9sec to finish ahead of Scott Overall, of England, who came home in 1:07:04.8. Alexander Teuten, also of England, came third in 1:07:57.15.

Despite still feeling sore from his 10K victory the previous day, Yigezu said he always felt confident of securing the clean sweep as he knew he had superior speed to his main rival Overall.

“Scott [Overall] was in the lead until the seventh mile and then I took over” Yigezu said.

“I ran with Scott yesterday [in the 10K] and although his pace is very nice, I knew if it came to the last mile I would beat him because I have more speed.

“The race was very nice, although I felt like I had a bit of injury from the day before,

“It wasn’t a good time for me, but that’s fine. The course is very hard, lots of hill and no flats. I wanted to run a 1:04, but it was not possible today.”

Yigezu, who had been running up to 70 to 80 miles a week in preparation for race weekend, said he would love to return to Bermuda next year and defend his trio of titles.

“I’m very happy because Bermuda is a very nice place,” said the 29-year-old. “It’s great for running and even for a vacation. I would definitely like to come here again to run.”

Overall said he believed the Half-Marathon would have been more suited to him than Yigezu and was surprised he could not shake off the Ethiopian.

“Obviously I knew what [Yigezu] had from the 10K and I knew he was more of a 5K, 10K runner,” said the 33 year-old, who competed in the marathon at the London Olympics in 2012.

“I thought the half-marathon was more suited to me and I took it out about five-minute miles for the first seven or eight miles and he was still there, and I was like, ‘OK’.

“We were both quite comfortable and by about the tenth mile he made quite a big surge to get away. I was comfortable in second and I didn’t really push it the last three miles.”

Gemma Steel, of England, reflected on a “good weekend’s work” as the first women’s finisher in a time of 1:14:26.16. The 31-year-old had contemplated taking a break yesterday after her triumph in the 10K.

“I’m quite glad I did it now,” she said. “I was having second thoughts because I thought it was going to be tough after yesterday. But it’s nice to do the double.

“I had a great pacemaker in Bryan Morseman [the Marathon winner].

“I just ran around and enjoyed it, really. I don’t want to go home now and I’ll treasure these moments. Maybe I’ll do the mile as well next time.”

Steel’s England team-mate Rebecca Moore was the second-fastest woman, crossing the line in 1:18:02.03, with Lauren Murray, of the United States, third in 1:28:15.16.