Tariq Simons and Gayle Lindsay captured the adult local men’s and women’s open titles in the Butterfield Mile in convincing fashion.

Simons, better known for his exploits on the tennis court, led the men’s field across the line in 4min 51.55sec to savour a maiden win in the event while Lindsay claimed women’s honours in 5:37.83.

“My strength in tennis is speed and fitness and obviously mental strength,” Simons said. “It applies very similarly in running so I am glad I gave it a shot.

“I know my strengths as well as I know my weaknesses so I know that I am not the best sprinter in terms of finishing, so I took the advantage as soon as we got to John Swan’s building. I took it to the guys and it paid off in my favour.

“Lactic-acid resistance towards the end but I just didn’t look back. I pretended like someone was right on my tail so it paid off well. It feels great and definitely something I will remember for awhile,” he said.

Colin Long claimed the silver in 4:57.96 with Michael Donawa finishing third in 4:59.13.

Lindsay seized early control in the women’s field and never let up before crossing the finish ten seconds ahead of nearest rival Kristen Robinson.

“I just wanted to see how everyone else was going out and no one was really prepared to take a decisive lead so I kind of just had to push the pace,” Lindsay said of her strategy.

“I went along the stretch and it was quite a headwind so I did not want to do anything too silly and blow up. I tried to keep it fairly comfortable and coming in to about halfway, I felt pretty good to try to pick it up a little.

“On the home straight, the wind was a little bit behind me I so tried to pick it up a little there and it felt really good. I was just happy to take the win.”

The win was a fourth for Lindsay who always gets an adrenalin rush competing in the annual spectacle.

“The atmosphere is great and there’s not many races like it,” she added. “Definitely the high when you cross the finish line, I just love it. It really makes a difference when you hear people cheering and just enjoying the atmosphere, it just makes it so much fun.”

Robinson finished second in 5:47.93 and Emma Norman came home in 5:49.16 to round off the podium.