There was not a hint of jet-lag as Vivien Cheruiyot continued a Kenyan monopoly of the Glasgow women-only 10k yesterday.

The 23-year-old from Kaptarakwa, a farming community on the edge of the Rift Valley, sprinted away from her long-time Ethiopian shadow, Aslefech Mergia, to win the 15th Resolution Asset Management race in 32min 08sec. Mergia, who clung on until 500 metres from the finish in Mosspark Boulevard, was 11 seconds down with Hilda Kibet third, in 32.25.

It was the tightest edition of the race for years, after seven consecutive runaway victories by Kibet's cousin, Lornah Kiplagat, absent this year.

Despite the loss of several months with an Achilles tendon injury, City of Glasgow's Susan Partridge did enough to suggest she can continue to augment her career as a translator by finishing seventh in a field of 11,920 starters.

The 27-year-old Commonwealth marathon internationalist from Oban has been dropped from all lottery funding since last year, but was the leading British finisher. She finished in 34:15, just two seconds clear of the reigning European 10,000 metres champion Inga Abitova, who was ninth in the London Marathon last month.

Cheruiyot was eighth in the world cross-country champion-ships, a member of the silver-medal team. She'd flown from her home in to Qatar, and on Friday night was second in the 1500m at the Super Grand Prix in Doha, the Qatari capital.

Her time there, 4:06.68, was the quickest of her life, and her 10k time yesterday took 17 seconds from her previous best. "I was confident in my sprint with the three of us at the front," said Cheruiyot.

"I raced at 8.05 in the evening on Friday, and was on a plane from Doha to London by midnight. I arrived at 7.30 on Saturday morning and caught the flight to Glasgow. I arrived here at 1pm."

Less than 24 hours later she was on the top of the rostrum in Bellahouston Park. "I'm not tired," she said.

It was third time lucky. She had been second behind Kiplagat last year, and was runner-up behind Ethiopian Gelete Burka at Holyrood in the EventScotland Great Edinburgh cross-country in January.

The three medallists had a 20-metre lead after two kilometres, leaving Zimbabwean Sharon Tavengwa isolated in fourth. Tavengwa, daughter of the late mayor of Bulawayo, has been befriended by Kiplagat and trains at her camp in Iten, dubbed the university of champions. Lynne Macdougall, who won the first edition of this race in 1993, is among the Scots who have visited the camp, and yesterday was running to raise money for it, as it helps to emancipate women in Kenya.

Veteran Macdougall was the youngest Los Angeles Olympic 1500m finalist, aged 19, in 1984. Yesterday she demonstrated the truism that form is transient and class is permanent. In her first race for four years she was 18th. Mother of a two-and-a- half-year-old son, she raised a substantial sum. "Alan her partner promised £100 to the charity if I broke 38 minutes," she said, grinning and showing her watch, stopped at 37:34.

Winner's kilometre splits 1k 3.21 2k 6.37 3k 9.50 4k 13.03 5k 16.s8 6k 19.22, 7k 22.44 8k 26.00 9k 29.03 10k 32.08 Leading finishers 1 V Cheruiyot (Ken) 32min 08sec, 2 A Mergia (Eth) 32.19, 3 H Kibet (Ken) 32.25, 4 S Tavengwa (Zim) 34.02, 5 C Mutwa (Ken) 34.02, 6 I Abitova (Rus) 34.13, 7 S Partridge (City of Glasgow) 34.15, 8 G Syrek (Pol) 34.20, 9 S Morris (Windsor) 34.23, 10 B Kaatisigwa (Tan) 34.38 Other Scots 16 S Finch (veteran) 36.51, 17 J Knowles 37.28, 18 L Macdougall (veteran, all City of Glasgow) 37.34