Rayner won the men's race, recording a personal best time of 1 hours 01min 01sec.

Uganda's Fred Musobo and Timothy Toroitch came in second and third respectively, with times of 01:01:08 and 01:01:17.

"It was a bit into the deep end there," Rayner said.

"I just tried to run in the front pack of Ugandans. 

"I think the whole team of four was there and one Kenyan, and I just stuck in.

"We went through 10k in like 28:40-something and I thought, 'Jeez, this is going to be tough.' 

"But I just stuck on as long as I could and tried to get to that final kilometre, because I've got a bit of a kick.

"I just unleashed in that last little bit and got the better of them."

Chekwel recorded a time of 1:09:45 to win the women's race.

Australia's Celia Sullohern came in second with 01:11:04, and Doreen Chesang, another Uganda, finished third with 01:11:10.

The event, though, was overshadowed by the death of two runners in the Cardiff Half Marathon held alongside the Commonwealth Championships. 

Race organisers claimed that they were "100 per cent satisfied" with the medical plans that had been in place. 

"We are 100 per cent satisfied that there was nothing more that could be done by the team at Run 4 Wales or the medical professionals in place on the day," Run4Wales chief executive Matt Newman said.

"We have a team of 10 doctors in place and a huge deployment of medics and St John's Ambulance around the 13.1-mile course.

"There's an almost full A&E (Accident and Emergency) unit at the finish line and the medical team acted in complete professionalism."

A review will now be carried out by race organisers, which is standard practice every year.