Christina Cazzola capped off her maiden appearance at the KPMG Bermuda Invitational Front Street Mile with an impressive victory in the elite women’s race last night.

Cazzola, of the United States, chased down Panamanian Rolanda Bell — a former 10K winner in 2012 — who “made the race honest” by pushing the pace early on.

The American produced the strongest finish, posting a time of 4min 49.81sec to break the tape ahead of Dana Mecke in 4:51.16 and Bell in 4:56.62.

Cazzola, who competes for the Atlanta Track Club, said her race played out to perfection and believed the course suited her strengths.

“It was a great race, a wonderful competition, and it was a wonderful field,” Cazzola said. “It definitely played out like I wanted it to, as I really wanted to have a late surge at the end.

“The way the course is set up, I used the hills to my advantage and really tried to chase after Rolanda. She really took it out from the start and made it an honest race — I respect that.” Cazzola said she had no expectations heading into the race and believed several of the elite runners were capable of capturing victory.

“As professional athletes, it’s anybody’s day and we’re always in different cycles of training,” Cazzola said. “Anyone in their best cycle at the moment can take the race.”

Cazzola said she hopes to return to the island and defend her title next year.

“I’ve loved being in Bermuda; it’s my first time here,” she said. “I would love to come back; it’s beautiful and I’m in Atlanta so we’re like neighbours.

“It’s an amazing event and I’m very impressed. This doesn’t happen all of the time in America.”

Mecke, of the US, said she was taken aback by the “awesome energy” of the crowd that lined Front Street last night but believed she got her race tactics slightly wrong.

“It was a fun race to be a part of,” said Mecke, another debutant. “I wish at the beginning I’d closed the gap on the leader [Bell] a little bit more.

“I think I took off a little bit too soon on my kick and I was accelerating so fast on the decline that I lost my footing and I was a little disappointed in that.

“Overall, I think I raced well for my first race and it was a great experience.”

In the local women’s mile Jennifer Alen dominated the race to add to her title collection in a time of 5:26.25, finishing ahead of second place Gayle Lindsay in 5:27.87 and Deon Breary in third in 5:42.03.

“My focus was just to win as I knew I wasn’t going to get a fast time judging on my training,” Alen said.

“The past few months I seem to have got sick with colds and things so my training has not been on track.

“I went out there and gauged what everyone else was doing and just tried to stay ahead. You never know what’s going to happen and you can never count your chickens.”