Patrick Casey, of the United States, made it two wins out of two today when he pipped Ethiopian Abdulmenan Kasim Gelatu at the finish line in 31min 03sec to win the BF&M 10K race.

Casey, who claimed the Butterfield Elite Mile title the previous evening, ran a smart race after keeping Kasim Gelatu (31:04) in his sights during the critical last two miles along North Shore.

He was still a few strides behind Kasim Gelatu as they entered the gates to the North Field and then used his stride to run past his rival just as they rounded the final bend before the finish line in front of the cricket pavilion.

“I’m a miler so the 10k is kind of long for me,” Casey said. “I just tried to weather the storm in the first six miles and then use my speed at the end.

“I stayed close enough where I could get him. I wasn’t sure if I was going to squeeze by him at the finish line but it worked out. It was a hard course.

“I feel he gave himself the best chance, he tried to pour it on in the middle of the race. He got some distance from me and I was questioning myself the whole time if I wanted to chase him down or not. I went for it and was lucky enough to get him.”

Kasim Gelatu made his move from a five-man lead pack in the area of Somersfield Academy, opening up a slight on the incline and maintaining it as he went through Flatts and then headed along North Shore as Casey himself opened a gap on second place.

Casey was careful not to allow Kasim Gelatu to extend his lead as they went past Loyal Hill and then climbed the challenging hill up towards the bus garage.

“It was a little breezy, but it wasn’t that bad, the course was enjoyable. It’s been a great weekend, a lot of fun,” he said.

Kasim Gelatu, who does not speak English, admitted through a fellow runner that he “felt disappointed that he didn’t kick” in the final 100 metres of the race as Casey passed him.

Three other runners broke the 32-minute barrier to beat last year’s winning time of 32:24 set by Suleman Shifa, of Ethiopia, over a slightly different course, which started and finished at the National Stadium, National Sports Centre.

Dey Dey, of Sudan, was third in 31:23, Alfredo Santana, of Puerto Rico, came fourth in 31.36 and Temesgen Habtemarian Bekele, of Ethiopia, placed fifth in 31:57.

Edward Shum was the first local finisher, finishing tenth in 34:56, one place ahead of Spencer Butterfield, who finished in 35:21. “It felt good, nice and cool and a little windy,” Shum said.

“I thought it was going to be more windy on North Shore but the wind went around to the northeast, so it was a little more windy on the way out. By the time we hit Flatts and came back it wasn’t bad.”

Butterfield, who comes from a running family with parents Jim and Debbie and brother Tyler, was happy to keep the Butterfield name out there in the absence of his triathlete sibling.

“That’s it, I thought Ty was going to come back and we would do a little running together but he couldn’t make it, so I decided to jump in and have some fun with it,” Butterfield said.

“My time was faster than I wanted, I was shooting for a sub-6.45 pace and would have been below that so I was pleased.

“It’s a great weekend, the numbers are up so that’s awesome. There were three or four sets of drums. It was great so thanks for the encouragement. I’m pleased, I had a good run last night in the mile.”

Ryan Outerbridge carried on from his victory in the senior schools’ mile with a fifteenth place finish, clocking 36:26.

“I felt pretty good for the whole race, much better than last year,” the Berkeley Institute student said.

“It was a big PB for me, almost a whole minute off my best time. I thought it was going to be pretty windy on North Shore but it wasn’t too bad. I got through it pretty good.”