BY day Ashley Couper is a mild-mannered special needs teacher helping children in several local schools.

In off-hours the 25-year-old is a rising star on the Bermuda running circuit. In the Fairmont to Fairmont road race held last weekend she dethroned reigning champion Anna Eatherley with a time of 44 minutes, 46 seconds and to finish 15th overall.

"It was great (to beat Anna Eatherley)," said Miss Couper. "I have a lot of respect for her. She has been the top women's distance runner on the island for a long time. I basically just wanted to see if I could stay with her during the race. I felt really good keeping up with her so I went for it."

Normally, Miss Couper is a track runner. Her favourite race is the 1,500 metres.

"I have been doing a lot more long-distance training over the last three or four months to build up endurance for my main race which is the 1,500," she said. "It paid off for doing longer races as well."

But when asked if she plans to replace Bermuda road race queen Anna Eatherley, Miss Couper said: "I wouldn't put it that way. My main event is shorter, 1,500 and even 800. I am probably going to run a couple of 800s this season as well. My main thing is track, not road running. Eventually, when I come back here for good, I will be doing a lot more road running."

Miss Couper comes from a family that loves to run. Her mother, Peggy is also well known in local running circles.

"I have been around it my whole life," Miss Couper said. "I know what the road running scene is like. In high school I started running track and cross country. In college I had a fantastic coach all through my junior and senior year. I would not be here if not for him. Then I went on to Stanford and ran with an amazing team there. Everybody was really good. The coaches were great there. (My running career) has definitely been building up for awhile. I have improved a lot since the beginning. It is definitely a lot of hard work and training."

She said if she could, she would make a career out of running.

"I am attempting to do that a little bit right now," she said. "I am going back to California after the Front Street Mile. I will be running with a team called the Nike Farm Team."

The Nike Farm Team formed in 1994 to provide opportunities for distance runners to continue developing after college. Today, the Nike Farm Team is a major distance running club with the aim of developing distance runners who are interested in pursuing Olympic Dreams.

"Some of the people on the team are professional and are paid by Nike, but there is just not a lot of money in track racing," she said. "I am going to see where I can take my running career."

But as much as she loves running, she absolutely adores teaching. "I couldn't pick between the two," she said. "I know I will go back to teaching when the running is over and that will be a life long thing. I would love to do some coaching myself."

She said when she returns to Bermuda for good she would like to start her own running club.

"When I come back here I would have fun with both, being with kids and running and hopefully be a role model for boy and girl runners," she said. "I think there are a lot of kids who don't ever see their potential fully developed. So it would be really great to venture into that."

Currently, Miss Couper is working with kids with special needs. She is helping children at Saltus Cavendish and Somersfield Academy with tasks such as spelling and writing.

She has a master's degree from Stanford University in California. She graduated in 2001 and then taught first grade in California for a year.