Sean Trott is hoping to go one better than his performance of a year ago in the May 24 Half-Marathon Derby as he makes final preparations for this year’s edition of the race.While Chris Estwanik again ran away with Derby bragging rights last year, it was the race for second between Trott and his friend Lamont Marshall that captivated the crowd, with Marshall eventually winning out.Marshall, who has been training in Kenya, won’t be in the field next Thursday as he launches an attack for qualification for the Olympic Games, paving the way for the 22-year-old Trott to improve on last year’s showing, although he’ll be more than happy to place in the top three.Although all signs point to him having a solid race, he admitted that his preparations early on were disrupted by outside factors, namely school and work.“This year the preparations going into the race aren’t as good as I would have liked them to be, between work and school so my preparations have been sub par but I’m still looking for a good performance,” said Trott.“The training I have been doing has been very good and over the last month or so I have done so really good work so I will be looking to get into the top three.“Obviously with Lamont not being here this year I will be expected to be in the hunt but I will miss having the challenge of not racing against him.“Last year we pushed each other to the limit and his absence opens up me being in the top three for sure.”So far this year he has been a part of the inaugural Validus Re ‘Running of the Bulls’ Re that saw Bermuda’s top runners chase down competitors on the course.Trott was also ap art Bermuda’s three-member NACAC Cross-Country Championships team that competed in Trinidad, with Chayce Smith and Jay Donawa joining him on the trip to the Caribbean.He came 22nd in the championships, a good performance given he was suffering from the flu.The middle distance runner set a new personal best (1:09.38) in last year’s Philadelphia Half-Marathon, and going by the mark set in that race, he’ll be hoping to improve on last year’s Derby time of 1:12.51, although the hilly course, heat and humidity often slows down the runners.With the minor setback of Trinidad behind him, he has his sights firmly set on next week’s big race.“My performance in Trinidad was OK, I didn’t have the best of runs given I was sick so I can’t look at that run and say I had a good race but looking at my training right now I feel good and ready to run.“The will be my sixth time running in the race and hopefully my previous experiences will help me put in a solid run.”