Then the Olympic 5,000m silver medallist put in a strong kick which immediately pulled her two metres ahead of Adere.

But that acted as a spur to the African star, winner over five miles at Balmoral last year, who powered away for a winning time of 15mins 04secs.

That drew her seven seconds clear of O’Sullivan with Emile Mondor third in 15mins 22secs.

O’Sullivan said: “I tried to get away from her, but it was if she was waiting for me to make the move and immediately responded.”

Kelly Holmes produced a sizzling performance to retain her mile.

The defending champion broke off from her warm-weather training in South Africa to test out her fitness and was delighted with her performance.

Holmes, hitting the front at the halfway point and then gradually breaking the field, flew over the closing stages to win in four minutes 29seconds.

The former army sergeant’s time represented a huge improvement of nearly six seconds on her winning time 12 months ago.

“The race started much faster this year and the way it turned out clearly shows I’ve been doing the right training and I felt in fantastic shape,” said Holmes.

Holmes paid tribute to Hayley Tullett, who finished four seconds behind her and third-placed Helen Clitheroe who clocked four mins 35secs in a repeat of the 2002 Commonwealth Games 1500m final.

“They are world-class runners and I knew there was no time for relaxation,” said Holmes.

“It must be a long time since we had such a big group of female distance runners in this country.

“As you saw today there is no way I can take anything for granted against them. They put me under a lot of pressure – these people are after me.”

Michael East, men’s Commonwealth 1500m champion, also retained his title with a storming finish over the final 700m.

East, a second faster than last year in his 4mins 08secs victory, was an easy winner, although there was a blanket finish for second place where Chris Bolt and James Thie took the honours sharing a time of four mins 10secs.

But neither they nor Laban Rotich, the Kenyan awarded the world indoor 1500m bronze medal when East barged him at the finish of the race in early March, were a match for the runaway winner.

“I didn’t intend hitting the front so early, I planned to go at around 400m,” said East.

He added: “I know everyone is getting excited about my finishing speed – but that had nothing to do with today’s win.

“I have built up my strength over the winter months. The speed will come - hopefully by the time of the Olympic trials in July.”

Craig Mottram posted the fastest 5,000m time in the world this year – 13mins 21secs – when destroying top-class opposition with a whirlwind final lap around the twisting Scottish circuit.

Mottram, who also shattered the Australian road record by 20 seconds, stepped up the pace on an uphill stretch to shake off the challenges of Jon Kibowen and Sergiy Lebid.

“I knew I had to get away from those guys so I deliberately put on a little more pace and it worked perfectly,” said Mottram, winner of last Thursday’s Sir Roger Bannister’s mile.

He beat off Kibowen of Kenya, who clocked 13mins 29secs and Lebid, the four-times European cross-country champion, who finished in 13mins 35secs.