the pre-Easter rabbit ... he has even been likened to Bugs Bunny.

Indeed, after 10 years of acting in the role of the Front Street Mile `rabbit' for the Elite event, Burgess has come in for his share of ribbing, mostly from uneducated spectators that saw him as a crazed local that always went out too fast and never finished, yet never altered the approach.

Unbeknown to such folk, he was actually performing his role to the textbook that exists, ensuring a fast early pace and putting the top runners on course for a shot at breaking the four minute barrier.

But no more.

Burgess yesterday intimated that he had answered the starters pistol for the last time -- at least in terms of the Elite mile.

"It's been 10 good years of rabbiting, but the rabbit has gone to pasture,'' said Burgess, who has been constantly queried in the streets of Bermuda as to his participation this year. "It's been fun, but it won't be me this year, I think the time has come for me to pass it on to someone else.

"My only regret may be that I was never able to get them under four minutes.'' Burgess reminisced about how 1992 champion and course record holder Joe Falcon used to call him prior to coming to Bermuda, to ask what sort of condition he was in.

Falcon has come closest to eclipsing the four minute barrier, boasting a time of four minutes, 4.2 seconds back in 1992.

"Joe used to tell me that he'd give me a percentage of the winnings if he broke it, although we never got around to talking exactly how much of a percentage,'' said Burgess, a former top 800 metres runner. "It's been a fun, nice part of my career.

"Many people don't know, but this is a very significant role if one is going for a time, and is something that is very big in Europe.

Last year witnessed three rabbits involved, with two overseas entrants in addition to Burgess, but it is unknown which runners will take over the role tomorrow evening.