Steve Burgess put a truly silver lining on his performance at the USA Track and Field Masters Indoor Championships recently.

Competing in the 45-49 age category, the Bermudian was runner-up in the individual mile, mile relay and 800 metres at the Boise, Idaho meet.

However, he could well have returned home with two golds as he was eclipsed in the mile by four one-hundredths of a second and had an even closer duel in his pet event, the 800 metres.

?That proved to be one of the most entertaining races of the event. I challenged the defending champion all the way to the line and he beat me by one one-hundredth of a second. He was clocked at two minutes, 5.77 seconds and I was two minutes, 5.78 seconds.

?It took 15 minutes for the finish-line judges to determine the winner and many of the fans thought I won,? said Burgess, third last year in the 40-45 800 metres.

The 45-year-old returned to run third leg in Central Park Track Club?s mile relay, posting 54 seconds in his 400-metre lap.

To tune up for the indoor championships, Burgess ran twice in New York and happily opened his season with four minutes 37 seconds in the mile and 2.04 in the 800 metres on February 10. Two weeks later, he improved those times to 4.34 and 2.02 respectively and is zoning in on breaking two minutes in the latter race.

?I?m happy to say Bermuda is being put on the map in Masters running,? declared Burgess, thanking former Premier Dr. David Saul for sponsoring his trip.

?Hopefully I will graduate to the Masters World Championships and see how I stack up there.?

Mid-Island Striders coach/athlete Tony Bean also reaped success at the indoor competition, winning silver medals in the 200 and 400 metres in the 30-34 age group.