C<$>OMMONWEALTH Games athlete Ashley Couper is planning to return to Bermuda on a full-time basis in 2007 and is looking forward to re-engaging with the island’s road running scene.While another of Bermuda’s international runners Jay Donawa, fresh from lowering his half-marathon best time in Philadelphia last month, has his sights on another North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association Cross Country Championship appearance next year.

Both athletes were in action in a highly competitive Crimestoppers 5K road race last Sunday. An unplanned stay on the island during the past month has seen Couper compete in a number of events, notably winning the women-only PartnerRe 5K.

She was also to the fore in the Crimestoppers race where she found herself in the company of in-form triathlete Flora Duffy and sub-three hour marathoner and May 24 champion Dawn Richardson.

For the one-mile track specialist it was a welcome challenge to find herself up against such talent and having to give chase in a domestic race.

Fellow Commonwealth Games athlete Duffy took the race to her and this time Couper could find no answer, doggedly pursuing her rival but unable to close down a growing gap of 30-odd metres that opened as the runners headed down Front Street to the Crow Lane roundabout and swung back into town.

Duffy ran out the winner in 17 minutes 34 seconds with Couper clocking 18 minutes exactly as the pair finished third and fourth overall in a race field of 92.

“Flora is in fine shape and her (triathlon) season is coming to an end. It was nice to chase someone in a race,” said Couper, who finished in the top ten in the Commonwealth Games 1,500m final in Melbourne earlier this year.

“And it’s nice to know there is the talent here in Bermuda. I hope she will come back in a few years and together we can spice up the road running scene.” Couper’s run last Sunday was almost half-a-minute faster than her winning time in the tougher PartnerRe 5K the previous weekend. Her 92-year-old gran was amongst spectators urging her on in the final stages as she tried to close on Duffy.

For the past month Couper has been stuck in Bermuda because of paperwork issues with the US immigration department that have taken four weeks to sort out. She came back for a weekend wedding of a friend but the short trip was soon extended because of matters outside her control.

She trains and coaches in Los Angeles but has been unable to return because of an issue with the INS which has now been sorted out, although a computer problem at the US Consulate in Bermuda was set to keep her on the island for a few more days this week.

It is her intention to return to live in Bermuda next year with her husband and top US 1,500m runner Chris Estwanik whom she married in July.

Couper expects to become a regular competitor on the Bermuda road running scene. She said: “It is easier to do road races here because we have them every weekend — in the US it is harder to find races without having to travel.”

In the Crimesoppers 5K Jay Donawa wrapped up a competitive weekend with a runners-up spot in the men’s race three seconds adrift of Lamont Marshall.

Donawa recently put the disappointment of missing this year’s May 24 Marathon Derby behind him when he went to Philadelphia to compete over a half-marathon and clipped two seconds off his personal best as he ran one hour 10 minutes and 10 seconds.

His previous fastest was set in Hong Kong in February as he built up to what he hoped would be his first Marathon Derby victory.

But Donawa’s May 24 dream was dashed when he rolled his ankle the day before the event and, following medical advice, did not run the race.

Physiologically it was a blow that took the 34-year-old sometime to get over.

“I took off about six weeks and did not start training until mid to late July,” he explained.

“I’d established a degree of consistency ready for May 24 and then what happened was a major blow because I was so prepared. I got injured the day before and it was hard to rebound.

“Even now I think about it and it is disappointing. But I’ve been running a long time and I know that it is part and parcel of athletics.” Donawa sees maintaining his health as his primary goal. As far as racing goes he is more spontaneous now than in his earlier career. If a race comes up and he is intrigued to run it, or fancies a testing workout, he will do it.

“I want running to be fun and not an arduous task all the time.” The BTFA Fall half-marathon, which he has won for a number of consecutive years, is likely to figure in his racing schedule for late November. This year’s cross-country series has also been high on his agenda, although he missed the first race because of the Philadelphia half marathon.

However, he has won the last three outings, including last Saturday’s jaunt around Spittal Pond where he was virtually unchallenged but gave himself a hard workout nevertheless.

The following day he took part in the Crimestoppers race and found himself head-to-head with Lamont Marshall, the two athletes trading spurts trying to wear the other down. It was Marshall who pulled out the decisive final kick near the last bend that took him three seconds clear of Donawa in 15:19.

For now Donawa is focused on his first love — cross-country. He hopes to take part in the NACAC regional cross-country championships in Florida again in 2007. Next year’s World Cross Country Championships is in Kenya. Donawa remains unsure if he would be willing to undergo the many inoculations needed to visit the African country, but will wait and see how things pan out in the coming months before ruling anything in or out.