ALBERT Donawa had to be as fast as his son Jay when he received an emergency call prior to the start of yesterday's half-marathon.

For in Donawa junior's haste to get changed at Number One Shed he inadvertently locked his keys in his car.

With the clock ticking down to the start and his gear in the boot, the ace runner had to call home for help.

"I got here about 7.20 a.m. to give myself ample time to warm up and went to the trunk of the car and dropped the keys in,'' said Jay.

"I have a central lock system and when I close the door, the system locks.

The only things I had were my shorts and my long sleeve T-shirt.

"So quick-thinking I got a cellphone and called my father in Somerset with 35 minutes to spare and he got the spare key. I guess he broke the speed limit to get here and I met him up by the customs building with about four minutes to spare.

"I sprinted down here, did a quick change and then went to the starting line.'' The calamity didn't appear to throw Donawa out of his stride -- he still managed to come in third in spite of his extra exertions.

*** NOTHING like a cold beer before a drug test ... it may sound funny, even ironic, but it's true.

With the new drug testing system being instituted for the first time this year for all of the weekend events, the top several finishers were whisked away after breaking the tape to give urine samples.

And, while many found it a bit much to be asked to produce liquid after spending all their bodies had out on the course, marathon winner Fedor Ryzhov of Russia had a simple solution.

"Just give me a good beer ... Heineken, perhaps,'' he said.

So there was the tiny Russian, cooling out in the drug counselling offices of Benedict Associates with an ice cold Heineken.

Wonder what Vaughan Mosher thought of that? *** WHEN is a roundabout actually a through-way? When you're an Englishman named Paul Freary and no one tells you to go around to the left.

Nearing the Palmetto Road/North Shore junction, Freary found himself in a quandary. There stood course marshals shaded to the left at the far side of the circular island, but the lead vehicle -- complete with BTFA president Judy Simmons -- had cut through on the right.

"Which way do I go?'' exclaimed the Brit, to a muted response.

Not wishing to stray to either extreme, Freary finally elected a route up the middle.

Who says Britain has no more scholars? *** IT may well be grand for the BTFA to boast a list of top notch athletes from all over the globe, but don't try to run that by the reporters who go out in search of comments.

Of all the various barriers for reporters, possibly the biggest is that of being able to communicate with the top competitors, many of whom hail from places such as Ukraine, Poland, Russia and Africa and speak but token English.

How many Bermudians do you know who speak Ukrainian? Heck, this scribe finds it difficult to understand some of the patois that comes out of the mouth of our own young brigade.

So it was at Saturday's 10K that Gazette reporter Jonathan Kent was forced to allow winner Mohamed Amyn to answer questions in French tinged with an Arabic accent, leaving Kent to return to the office and transcribe by utilising the lessons learned some years ago while preparing for his `A' level examinations.

Guess one can now see why they offer such subjects in the first place!