Kevin Doyle and Tammy Slusser expected the competition.

As it turned out, it never happened.

In Saturday's 20th annual Butler Road Race, both runners picked up victories in the 5-mile portion of the race and did so impressively despite the warm and humid conditions.

Doyle, 25, of Butler finished with a time of 25 minutes, 20 seconds, which was 26 seconds ahead of Chris Geddis, 20, of Slippery Rock and a graduate of Seneca Valley.

Jorge Medina, 20 of Karns City (25:56), Matt Bluman, 20, of Slippery Rock (26:09) and Matt Gaudet, 19, of Zelienople (26:54) round out the top five runners.

Slusser, who won her fourth straight 5-mile run and seventh women's title in the race's history, was clocked at 30:44 while Holly Whoolery of Slippery Rock was second at 31:24.

Kimberly Kalika, 22 of Slippery Rock (33:45) was third, followed by Jessica Vernon, 16, of Butler (34:14) and Melanie Lutz, 17, of Sarver (34:51).

"There's a couple of strong high school kids I thought was going to contend," said Doyle, who graduated from Knoch High School and St. Francis College.

"A couple of months ago, I told (BRR president) Mike Franko if the conditions were right, I'd try and set the record," Doyle added.

Doyle was 32 seconds off the 5-mile record of 24:48 set by Steve Parker in 1993, the first year of that distance.

"I haven't done a lot of intense running," said Doyle. "I went out too fast. It's too easy to go out fast on this course because of the downhill. That, plus the lapse in training didn't help.

"I knew I had the race at the turn-around. Chris and Jorge were there and both are good runners … I didn't feel smooth, but I just coasted. Those two guys, I knew they were the two to beat," Doyle added.

Doyle ran his best time on Saturday, even better than the 25:54 he ran in 2002, when he won the event.

He drove in from Altoona the morning of the race, having recently accepted a position as a software engineer.

Doyle and his father also own Up-N-Running, a specialty running store on Route 8 in Valencia, so Doyle will continue to come back to the area and run in races to support the store.

"This was the 30th race and is the longest consecutively held race in western Pennsylvania," said Doyle. "I'm a two-time winner, so I'm not disappointed."

With her win, Slusser has tied Karen Stopyra-Kemmis (1994-97) for consecutive victories. Slusser has also won three consecutive 10K races (1984-86).

"I'm always happy to win, especially when you get older," said Slusser. "It's not as easy."

Slusser had a 30-second lead at the turnaround in Alameda Park and cruised in for the win.

"I just wanted to maintain that and I just slowed down a bit," Slusser said.

Slusser's continued success is more about her determination than her speed.

"The big thing is as you get older, you don't have to have a lot of talent, you just have to outwork people," she said. "I used the old 10K course as a warm-down. That was nice to go back and do that."

This year's race conflicted with the annual Steelers 5K race, which normally runs in mid-June, but Slusser knew where she wanted to run.

"This race will always be special," said Slusser. "On June 21, 1987, I got married after the race. I usually do the Steelers 5K, but I like this better."

Notes:

Barnes and David Potsubay, 45, of Volant were acknowledged before the awards presentation for placing 30th overall in the 5-mile and 2K race, respectively … All finishers received a 30th Butler Road Race commemorative towel.