Bermuda's Terrance Armstrong came within a whisker of claiming the Island's first medal in the 1500 metres final at the CAC Games here last night.

But the Washington-based middle distance runner was critical of his own tactics after finishing fourth in a thrilling race on the blue track of the impressive Panchero Romario stadium which was filled to its capacity of perhaps 10,000.

"I ran a stupid race,'' said Armstrong after finishing just 72 hundredths of a second behind bronze medallist Pablo Olmedo Castaman of Mexico. "I allowed myself to become bunched in.'' Actually it looked as if he had timed his surge well, making his move from eighth on the last lap and his legs holding up well on the final straight of what turned out to be a relatively slow race in heavy conditions.

But the anguish on his face in the last 50 metres told its own story as his brief threat to get past Castaman faded.

It was another Mexican, Hector Roman Torres who came through to claim his nation's 38th gold of the Games in 3:46.06. The partisan Venezuelan crowd, however, were saving most of their cheers for their own Emigdio Delgado, who stepped up to claim silver.

The race had had an entertaining start with St Lucia's Zephrinus Joseph going for broke from the outset, opening up a gap of some 20 metres over the rest of the 15-strong field in the first lap.

His courage was appreciated by the vocal crowd, but there was no panic further back and he soon ran out of oil, finally finishing 12th, 11 seconds behind the leader.

Armstrong, whose form has shown a marked improvement this year, was reluctant to say much as he came off the track.

"I don't really know that I want to talk much right now. I'm very disappointed,'' he said before disappearing to the practice track to sit alone in silent contemplation.

Armstrong, who surprisingly took bronze in the the CAC track championships last year, has three times broken the Bermuda record for the 1500m in recent months.

He has an immediate chance to go one better when he takes to the track again tonight. Asked to confirm whether he would take his place in the 5000 metres, there was a strongly positive tone in his voice as he replied: "Most definitely.'' Elsewhere in athletics over the weekend both 100 metre runner Tariq Hewey and long jumper Atiba Tucker failed to come through the qualifiers.

But it was a close run thing for Hewey, running in the second of five heats on Saturday morning: his time of 10.85 seconds left him just four hundredths of a second from a place in the semi-finals.

Tucker, meanwhile, who passed up the opportunity of competing in track events to concentrate on the long jump, missed out on the final by some measure yesterday. His first leap brought him a distance of 7.03 metres, but he failed to improve on that with subsequent jumps of 6.86m and 6.76m.

Jamaican James Beckford had the best jump of the qualifiers, reaching 7.98m, with the shortest jump to make the final that of St Lucia's Dane Gaspar at 7.62.

Afterwards, Tucker, asked to comment on his performance, replied: "I don't think I can'', before seeking refuge with equally tight-lipped coach Gerry Swan.

Swan, for the second successive day, refused to answer specific questions, saying that he had an arrangement with Bermuda Olympic Association not to speak to the Press and referring all inquiries to team manager Pat Lake.

He repeated that line when asked whether or not he thought the public in Bermuda had a right to know what the athletes representing the Island felt about their performances.

BOA general secretary John Hoskins told The Gazette yesterday he was unaware of any arrangement made with Swan regarding the media.

Pressed on whether Tucker's performance would have put him anywhere near qualifying for the Commonwealth Games, Swan replied dismissively: "It depends on what you mean by near'', before refusing to respond to further questions.