Smith, striding almost effortlessly alongside the world's best.

To expect the Bermudian to win Saturday's ADT Bermuda 10-K may have been an unrealistic goal, however, for Smith the solution is clear... he needs more competition.

On this Island, Smith is king, but a solo fling in January is certainly not enough to raise one into the realm of the running elite.

"I definitely need to get more international competition,'' said Smith, who is hopeful of gaining sponsorship from Giant Foods, which would enable him to attend more overseas meets.

"It's hard to get the intensity and prepare for that pace just racing here.

"I know I can get there, but I need to go overseas and run in more major races.'' Meanwhile, there was the local hero tucked in among the likes of Michal Bartoszak, Dave Lewis, Jerry Lawson, Paul Freary and others as they sped away from the National Stadium on a long distance `sprint' for glory -- and a chunk of cash.

The lead pack dropped Smith just after passing the one-mile mark, erasing notions of an upset.

Smith eventually finished 14th and was the first local in a time of 32 minutes, 13 seconds, over a minute faster than that which the 26-year-old posted last year.

"The race went all right. I'm not really pleased with the time,'' added Smith, clearly unsatisfied. "My strategy was to go out hard and stay with them (leaders).

"I did that and then just settled into my own pace.'' Following home Smith was Tracy Wright, 17th in 33:05, with Kevin Tucker (34:36) the next Bermudian to break the tape as he placed 24th.

Tucker ran for a while with female winner Anne-Marie Letko of the United States, before the latter surged ahead for good, leaving Tucker to join another group as they tackled a windswept North Shore.

"I wanted to run a conservative race, nothing to hard, because I want to have a good run tomorrow (yesterday) as well,'' said Tucker, who also ran in the ADT Bermuda Half-Marathon.

"I went out a little bit too fast in the first mile -- a 5:06.

"I'm happy with my performance. My time was exactly what I wanted to do, somewhere around the 34-35 mark.'' "It was really windy along North Shore, so I just tucked in behind a couple of runners and stayed with them the rest of the way.'' Neil de Ste. Croix, like many others, explained the torture of negotiating North Shore against a strong headwind.

The diminutive athlete was at a distinct disadvantage battling the might of Mother Nature, who was unmercifully cruel with her strong gusts, cool temperatures and rain throughout the weekend.

"The first three miles are good,'' said de Ste. Croix. "You're fresh. You go hard and then you hit the wind on North Shore.

"You get a second wind coming up the hills, because you know you're getting near the finish.'' On the female front, Anna Eatherley was a comfortable winner over Jennifer Fisher, reversing the order of finish from the previous night when the latter snatched victory in the Bank of Butterfield Mile.

Eatherley eased home in 37:52 as the fifth woman overall, with Fisher (sixth overall) clocking 38:26 and Karen Adams next in 38:32 (seventh).

"I just tried to keep a steady pace because I knew it would be hard coming back,'' said Eatherley. "I wanted to do a really good time, but then I saw the weather and it just wasn't `good time' weather.''