And while Louise Small was always firm favourite to win her first title since 2011, she put the icing on the festive cake with a convincing gun-to-tape victory in the final race.
This year’s very well-attended edition of the popular festival concluded with yesterday’s Grandes Rocques to Northside 10km in the same welcoming sunshine as seen at the weekend’s off-road events, but with the wind direction hindering runners more than it helped them.
The Jersey U20 athlete chose to bide his time initially, vying with Scotland’s Callum Tharme in a decisive head-to-head.
But passing L’Islet Common around the 4km mark he had a palpable lead of around 5sec., with Guernsey’s own Jack Rees a more distant third.
Andrews-Callec began to truly show his class around the half-way marker.
He ultimately came home in a great personal best of 30min. 43sec., some 54sec. clear of Full Course winner Tharme.
Repeating last year’s victory in the 10km, together with second in both the opening 5km and the Full Course, secured the youngster his first overall crown.
‘I’m very happy to defend the title as 10k’s probably my distance that I feel more comfortable running,’ he said.
‘I’m well chuffed. I only did the one event last time, so it’s nice to come away here, do all the events and win the festival.’
Reflecting on his race tactics, he added: ‘I went out and sat with the pack early on.
‘I felt really comfortable at the mid-way point, but I put my foot down and still felt genuinely really comfortable.
‘I thought at one point, “Is it going to come back and bite me?” but I managed to keep the gap.
‘I felt really good coming down the home straight and I had a decent finish as well, for a change, which is quite nice.’
Rees took third in 32-18 but needed a late kick to finish 4sec. clear of Aldershot’s Joe Morwood, who had closed a hefty deficit mid-race and was right on him into the final straight.
Island Games man James Priest made the top five in 33-20, 3sec. clear of Bath University’s Michael Lambourne, with George Mason seventh and third Guernsey runner in a big PB of 33-45.
In eighth overall, despite simply using the race as a marathon-pace training run, was Aldershot’s mighty Small.
The London Marathon hopeful completed her perfect weekend – four wins from four – by crossing the line in 34-05.
Second spot went to another strong run from the in-form Nat Whitty, who has just stepped into her veteran years but put down a PB of 36-28 to claim fourth on the Guernsey women’s all-time list.
Scottish runner Zoe Pflug took third on the day with 37-49 and with that finished second woman overall for the festival.
The triumphant Small ‘really, really enjoyed’ the race and felt the solo running might have been a blessing in disguise.
‘It was a fairly strong headwind, so it made it a little bit more challenging, and I was running solo but I did think it was really good practice for the London Marathon,’ she said.
‘I’m in the elite start and I’ll probably be running a fair bit on my own, so from that point of view I felt it was really good training and finished off the weekend really nicely.
‘But my legs are definitely tired.’
It is not the 34-year-old’s first overall Easter festival title, but it has been a lengthy gap, as she remembers winning it when she was 19 and the road races were 10km and half marathon.
She had come back after a long absence in 2024, but played second fiddle to Olympian and good friend Steph Twell.
‘It’s nice to come back and win it again,’ she added.
‘That’s actually the first time I’ve ever beaten Steph in a race – I’d never beaten her.’
Guernsey V45 Ulrike Maisch took fourth woman in 38-32 and Stubbington Green’s Rebecca Lord fifth in 39-18.
The previous day, Muggle the Smuggles had come out top of 52 teams in the sunny but windswept 4x1 mile cross-country relay at Delancey Park.
The quartet whose name parodied last year’s mixed champions – the Smuggle the Muggles team featuring Twell – won in 21-25, leading Bristol Distance Project by 57sec.
BDP took the mixed honours after edging HolmesHead Brothers over the line in the exactly the same time.
HolmesHeads’ Luke Holmes had set the day’s quickest leg of 4-56 on the opening circuit, 11sec. clear of BDP’s Gian-Luca Robilliard and The Fast and the Fossilised’s Lee Merrien. Those two remained joint-second fastest.
Michael Lambourne had set the eventual victors up nicely in fourth, allowing Toby Mann to take the lead deep into leg two, after which Mikey Ingrouille and Jack Rees brought it home.
Team Jog On’s Small claimed the fastest women’s leg with 5-52, just 1sec. quicker than BDP’s Eloise Scholes as Purser Posse’s Lord took third in 5-59.
Junior squad Bunny Boltz were the fastest all-female team in 27-20.
