A class field of Bermuda?s top female runners will battle for the crown in tomorrow?s PartnerRe Women?s 5K.

Speedsters, including defending champion Victoria Fiddick, track star Ashley Couper, Anna Eatherley, triathletes Kim and Deanna McMullen and Alison Harvey, have all entered the highly popular showdown which is expected to draw a record field of more than 800.

Eatherley has won the event five of the past eight years and holds the course record of 19 minutes and one second, set in 2003.

Other previous winners include Karen Adams (?99), Couper (?02) and Fiddick (?05).

Fiddick finished the hilly course in hot conditions last year in a winning time of 19.41, followed by Eatherley in 20.08. Visitor Donna Karasic, of the Baltimore Road Runners Club, was third.

This year, competition for first place honours looks tighter than ever before in the event?s nine-year history, thanks to entries from a half dozen of the Island?s fastest females.

The woman-only charity event, presented by Mid Atlantic Athletic Club (MAAC) with title sponsors PartnerRe, includes a junior girls 3K, an adult 5K run, and both a competitive walk and fun walk. The main event starts at 9.15 a.m. from the Botanical Gardens. The junior 3K race (under-16 girls) sets off at 8.45 a.m.

With 700 participants last year, the 5K is now the largest event on the local racing calendar.

?We?ve had a tremendous response,? noted race director Rosemary Jones, ?and this year?s event is shaping up to be another great one.?

The race has raised more than $90,000 for women?s charities since 1998, supporting initiatives to battle breast cancer, heart disease, physical abuse and other female-related causes in Bermuda.

All proceeds this year will go to the Bermuda Diabetes Association?s (BDA) campaign to educate about the disease, which affects an estimated 15 percent of Bermuda?s population, including a growing number of pregnant women.

A corporate trophy goes to the company with the most employees finishing the walk or run, while the school with the most participants wins a $500 cash gift, dedicated to sports programmes and equipment.

Nearly $10,000 in prizes is up for grabs, including overall run and walk prizes, age-group and junior prizes, plus numerous draw prizes, including a Grand Draw prize of a seven-night Eastern Caribbean cruise for two on Royal Caribbean?s

Registration will take place today at the Jack King (Poultry) Building in the Botanical Gardens, where entrants can collect their numbers. Gift bags and T-shirts will go to the first 1,000 entrants. Today will be the last chance for late entries ($30 adults, $5 under-16).