Two representatives from leading North America publications, together with the race director of the Toronto Marathon, will see for themselves what the Bermuda International Race Weekend is all about when they arrive on the Island next week.

As part of an ongoing attempt to re-establish the running festival to its former glory as a premier event attracting upwards of one thousand athletes in a single race, organisers have arranged for representatives of Runner's World and Running Times magazines to see what it is all about.

Positive write-ups in those journals will go a long way to spreading word about the three-day sporting event, which enjoyed its best years during the 1980s when many of the sport's biggest names participated along with race numbers of around 1,000 in the 10K and close to 500 in the marathon and half-marathon.

In those halcyon days world famous athletes such as Grete Waitz and Frank Shorter toed the start line.

Peter Lever, who arranges invites for many of the elite athletes who come to Bermuda, believes maintaining the quality of such invited athletes is key to boosting the attractiveness of race weekend amongst overseas runners and visitors.

"If we bring in the world class athletes it means the ordinary tourist who runs can go home and tell people that they were standing on the start line with so and so. Then, the next year we start to see an increase in numbers," he said, explaining that the allure of rubbing shoulders with big names in a relatively localised event entices more people to take part.

This year there are three elite runners with 10K bests below 28 minutes - an interesting prospect considering the course record set 26 years ago by Brit Geoff Smith is 28:14.

There are no less than five confirmed elite milers who have broken the four-minute mile barrier. If any of them achieve such a time in the KPMG Front Street Mile on January 18 they will walk away with a cool $10,000 prize.

A similar cash jackpot exists for record-breakers in the 10K and marathon, and there are some formidable women athletes including Kenya's Florence Jeposgei who has run under 32 minutes for the distance.

The number of elite athletes is slightly lower than previous years, but Lever maintains quality is the most important factor. Difficulties arranging visas in some of the overseas countries has also hampered efforts to bring top names to Bermuda. As for overseas athletes in general, there were around 225 registered to take part, as of yesterday. That is roughly the same amount as last year.

In a bid to raise the profile of the weekend amongst runners around the world, and particularly in North America, representatives from two of the biggest athletics publications have been invited to join this year's race weekend.

One is Andy Hersam, the vice-president and publications manager of Runner's World magazine, the other is Candace Karu, editorial director for Running Times magazine.

Also invited as a guest is Toronto Marathon race director Jay Glassman, who is particularly interested in seeing how the Friday evening Front Street Mile races fit into the weekend package.

Bermuda Track and Field Association president Clarence Smith said there were encouraging signs that some large groups, such as charity raisers, which made a significant contribution to race numbers in past years, were looking to return in 2009. He is also encouraged that the Fairmont Bermuda Hotel group, which is already a significant backer of race weekend, wishes to step up to become a partner and add further weight and resources to the running festival.