Bermuda's leading long distance runner Kavin Smith may not yet be ready to take on the world...but he is prepared to take on allcomers in this Sunday's ninth annual Deloitte and Touche relay.

Bermuda's Marathon Derby champion and Olympic and Commonwealth Games hopeful will run all four legs of the 12-mile relay against the rest of the field's four-man teams.

And in what could prove to be one his biggest challenges to date, he's expected to finish before the majority of the field, perhaps even among the top three.

The race starts at Dockyard, taking runners into Somerset via Malabar and then finishing back in Dockyard. It starts at 10.a.m. and is designed to help raise money for Smith ahead of his busy international campaign next year.

Race organiser Brenda Carbonette of Deloitte and Touche said yesterday that the company was delighted to have the focus placed on Smith, saying it was essential that the athlete received the necessary sponsorship to assist in his preparation for next year's major competitions.

"Our main thrust is to give recognition to Kavin and help to raise money for him so that contributions can assist him. One thing for certain is that he will be working hard by running all four legs of the race,'' said Carbonette.

"He needs contributions from all sectors, but more so a sponsor who can put in some money to help him train to reach his many goals. Now is certainly the time for all of Bermuda to rally behind something like this.'' Smith's coach Duncan Newby endorsed Carbonette's comments, noting that it was imperative that the runner got the support so that he could carry the banner of Bermuda to the major competitions.

Newby accepted that beating local challengers week in and week out wasn't helping Smith in his endeavour to make the international grade.

The coach explained that in order for Smith to reach his potential and be competitive at an international level it was imperative that he went abroad for both training and to compete in meets.

To date the burden of finding finances had fallen solely on Smith's shoulders, according to Newby. Now he was broke and in need of assistance from a sponsor.

"During his five weeks of training in England this summer Kavin virtually paid for it himself so he is broke. He's virtually drowning as far as finances are concerned,'' said Newby.

"What people don't realise is how much it costs to do the racing he needs to do. For him to improve he has to race against people who can annihilate him so that he can see where he is going and also to make his body stretch beyond limits that he has.

"Now if we can get him to do some altitude training for a period of six weeks he could make radical improvement with his times. Remember while in England this summer he improved his (10K) time by one and a half minutes,'' said Newby.

"He is a good runner who is not reaching his potential at the moment because he heeds to get abroad and run against people who are going to beat him.

Getting away to do this will be a major step and it will help him to see light at the end of the tunnel without this burden of having to worry about finances.'' Newby would not name a figure, but scoffed at a suggestion that $20,000 would be sufficient to cover a programme extended from now until the Olympics.

The coach said that the distance of travel would have to be taken into account, as well as the several weeks of training abroad and the finances needed to cover his many responsibilities in Bermuda, which include family and mortgage commitments.

Of Sunday's challenge, Newby remarked: "One thing's for certain, it will be an event that will be good for Kavin and the public as it will see him race the full 12 miles, giving the public at least eight opportunities to see him run by them.

"If the commentary is good they will always be kept aware of where he is in comparison with the others which will make it even more exciting.

'' Royal Gazette Sports Editor Adrian Robson will be providing the race commentary.

As an added incentive, organisers are offering in the grand raffle a trip to the cricket Test match in Antigua next year between the West Indies and New Zealand. Every $100 received in sponsorship will be rewarded with a ticket for the draw.

With prizes in several categories, clubs, schools, businesses and local organisations have been encouraged to compete.

Entry forms can be obtained at the Sportseller in Hamilton.