Bermuda has shrugged off the lingering effects of September 11 to attract an impressive band of elite runners for International Race Weekend 2002.

With overseas entrants expected to be down after the terrorist atrocities in New York and Washington that took the lives of more than 3,000 people, three champions and two past champions will be among 40 “professional” runners who will take to local roads from January 18 to 20.

At the head of the pack are three Kenyan runners who Judith Simmons, the committee chairman, believes will put in a serious challenge for the $10,000 incentive for the first person to go under four minutes in the Elite Invitational Mile next Friday.

The time of year that the Front Street Mile is held, coupled with the turns and wind conditions with which the runners have to cope, have resulted in the incentive proving to be as unreachable as Mount Everest but Simmons said that Leonard Mucheru, Sammy N'geno and Tim Mangera were capable of smashing the record of 4:04.2 set by Joe Falcon 10 years ago.

“It is likely that they will be working together,” Simmons said at yesterday's press conference, “and I think one of them will finish under four minutes. I'm certain the record will go.”

The Elite Mile indeed has the look of being the star of the piece with Rich Tremain, of Canada, returning to defend his title while the 12-man field will also feature Marcus O'Sullivan, who boasts the second fastest time ever on this course.

Sullivan, the 40-year-old Ireland runner who has completed more sub-four-minute miles than anyone and will double as a motivational speaker during the weekend's festivities, is a two-time former winner with a best time here of 4:04.9 in 1997.

But despite a field that also includes Bermuda's Terrance Armstrong, a Russian and two Frenchmen, the stage appears to be set for Mucheru to build on what was an impressive season in 2001.

The 23-year-old burst onto the track scene early on and, after victories in Princeton, New Jersey (3:53.64) and Portland, Oregon (3:53.60), and recorded the eighth-fastest time of the year, 3:49.75, in finishing fifth to Hicham El Guerrouj, of Morocco, at the Golden Gala in Rome.

N'geno, the 2000 International 10K champion, is returning after missing last year because of the untimely death of his father, and it is in that event that he figures to feature more prominently.

The 10K title will change hands definitely, with Mohamed Amyn, of Morocco, unavailable and Courtney Babcock, of Canada, missing a chance at a fourth successive women's victory through injury.

N'geno, who won in 30:14, is expected to be the top contender but another Moroccan, Said Guermali, who has a best time of 27:52 compared to the Kenyan's 27:54, should be in the frame. Mangera is also entered in the 10K as well as his countryman Benson Ogato and the Russian, Dmitry Maximov, who boasted an impressive best time of 28:15.

The women's race for a new champion should be equally competitive with Breeda Dennehy Willis, of Ireland, and 20-year-old Grace Momanyi, of Kenya, among an elite list of five runners.

Dennehy Willis has been prominent in Irish track and field over the past two years and represented her country at the Sydney Olympics and and last year's World Championships. Momanyi, the former Kenya junior national cross-country team member, finished second to Babcock on her Bermuda debut last year and went on to three 10K victories among her six titles for the season.

While there is much debate over whether the Elite Mile's four-minute barrier will be breached, the consensus is that the women's marathon record is a foregone conclusion with the inclusion of Tatyana Pozdnyakova, of Ukraine, and Firiya Sultanova-Zhdanova, of Russia, in the field to challenge Lioudmila Kortchaguina, the two-time defending champion, also of Russia.

The record of 2:40:50 was set by Yelena Plastinina, of Russia, four years ago but Pozdnyakova boasted a personal best time of 2:30:28 and Sultanova is recently off a 12th-place finish at the World Championships in 2:30:58, which suggests that either is more than capable of walking away with the $5,000 bonus.

The men's race sees the return of last year's top two, Fedor Ryzhov, of Russia, and Luiz Carlos Ramos, of Brazil. The other elite runner lined up is Naftal Mayoyo, who has a best time of two hours and 17 minutes.

The International Half-Marathon has been given a facelift with the advent of prize money, courtesy of the sponsorship of Travel Connection. As a result, six elite runners on the men's side and one on the female front (Kim Saddic, US) have their eyes on the $1,000 for first place.

The monetary breakdown is the same as the other races, with John Kipkoskei's 1:06:34, set in 1995, the benchmark time.

Eddy Hellebuyck, the former Belgium runner who is based and runs a training camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico, produced a shock victory in the 1994 marathon, but will do well to stick with American David Morris and James Kuria Karanja, of Kenya, whose personal bests over the half-marathon distance are four minutes inside his.