But it was 19-year-old Tsegai Tewelde who caused a sensation by setting a new 10k record to become the first person to complete the course in less than 30 minutes.

In second place was Scot Alan Macpherson and in third place was Chris Wilson.

Tsegai, an Eritrean athlete who was granted asylum in Scotland last year, said: "Everyone cheered me on -- it didn’t matter about the rain!"

Knocking more than one minute off her winning time from last year to retain her crown was Glasgow’s Danielle Brown, racing home in 35 minutes and 16 seconds in the women’s 10k while in second place was Fiona Matheson and third was Jill Knowles.

Jason Mbote of Kenya claimed first place in the men’s half marathon, while Kenyan Caroline Cheptonui Kilel finished first in the woman’s.

Ross Houston, 29, from Dumfries finished in one hour seven minutes and 30 seconds in 14th place as first Scot.Toni McIntosh, 30, from Ayr was first Scotswoman home.

Securing first place in the half marathon wheelchair race was Mark Telford, while first place in the women’s half-marathon wheelchair race went to Jane Egan, 39, of Kilbarchan.

A total of 20,868 people signed up for this year’s event, beating the previous record of 20,529 set in 2006, and among them it was the beautiful face of a little girl which caught the attention -- and won the hearts -- of the Great Scottish Run crowds.

Enya Doohan, of Clarkston, in Glasgow, died a year ago, after developing fluid on the brain. She was treated in ward 61 at the Southern General and her mum Marie and around 300 supporters took part in the 10k and half-marathon events at the weekend, to raise money for the hospital.

They wore green T-shirts with a photo of Enya on the front, and the little girl’s smile brought a little sunshine to the grey Glasgow day.

At the finish, Marie, 36, paid tribute to everyone who had turned out in memory of Enya.

"It’s been hard work, but it was all for Enya, and it was all worth it," she said.

See sport page 18