Kris Jones won the men's elite competition in 14min 19sec and Commonwealth Games finalist Jenny Nesbitt fought off the effects of a cold to win a hard fought women's race in 16:31, on the 60th anniversary of an event first held on the streets of Mountain Ash in 1958.

Earlier, Bedford had joined former Wales and British Lions rugby captain Sam Warburton and Paralympic sprinter Rhys Jones as "mystery" runners who lit a special dragon cauldron in the centre of the town to launch festivities.

"The whole ethos of this race is one of mass participation," Bedford said. 

"When this race started, there was no race other than a National Championship that would get those kind of numbers. 

"Now it continues to draw not only from Wales but throughout the country and wider afield."

Such was the secrecy surrounding the "mystery" runners that they were transported to Mountain Ash in a van with blacked-out windows

Even local Mayor Steve Powderhill was kept in the dark.

"I've been told there is more than one runner but that is all," he said.

Jones, a Nos Galan ambassador who competed at Rio 2016, added: "It's phenomenal to have this event on your doorstep."

For Warburton it was chance to follow in the footsteps of fellow Lions Colin Charvis and Neil Jenkins.

"It was pretty cool," he said.

"It was the first time I'd been up here but I'd heard all about it and other players have been here to do it."

In all, some 1,700 participants took part in the racing which included shorter events for children and a mass start race which attracted many in fancy dress.

The centrepiece was an elite race on a slightly modified course through the centre of town.

Men's winner Jones received a trophy named in honour of race founder Bernard Baldwin for the victory.

It caps a breakthrough year in which he helped Great Britain win the European team cross-country silver medal after he also won gold at the World University Orienteering Championships.

Baldwin was a local school teacher and athletics official who first organised a race from Mountain Ash to celebrate the centenary of the Welsh National Anthem, Land of My Fathers, in 1856. 

At this event, Olympic marathon silver medallist Tom Richards delivered a goodwill message from the Mayor of Mountain Ash to his Pontypridd counterpart.

Baldwin suggested a similar event at the 1958 Commonwealth Games held in Cardiff and probably provided the inspiration for the Queen's Baton Relay.

The organisation of Nos Galan came after a conversation with 1956 Olympian Ken Norris, who had just won the São Silvestre race in the Brazilian city of São Paulo which is also held on New Year's Eve.

His daughter Alison is now race patron.

"The turn-out now is phenomenal," she said.

"It makes me very proud and long may it continue."

Richards was the first "mystery runner" in 1958, beginning a tradition which endures to this day and has included Olympic champions David Hemery, Linford Christie and Nicole Cooke, Welsh football manager Chris Coleman and world light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly.

"It is somebody who is popular with the crowds, it can be inspirational, someone who has had a particularly good year or is an ambassador for their sport," said Ann Crimmings, head of the Nos Galan Organising Committee .

In 1969 double European gold medallist Lillian Board was chosen. 

Board had won Olympic 400 metres silver in Mexico City in 1968 but, tragically, she died in 1970 from cancer aged only 22 . 

Her name adorns the trophy presented to women's victor Nesbitt.

"There is no better way to start the new year than to run into it," said Nesbitt later.

The races finish close to a statue dedicated to Griffith Morgan, better known as "Guto" Nythbran, a local runner of great repute in the early 18th century when the sport was known as pedestrianism.

Before the evening race, the mystery runners and race officials had attended a memorial service at St Gwynno's Church in Llanwonno and a memorial wreath was laid at Nythbran's grave.

For Bedford it was an emotional moment. 

He had made his debut in 1966 and first carried the flame in his heyday as an athlete in 1971, forging longstanding affection for the race which he helped to revive after a 10-year hiatus in 1984.

"I understood the history of it," said the former world 10,000m record holder. 

"Guto was the greatest Welsh runner.

"The race keeps his spirit alive."