AROUND 300 athletes are expected to fill the streets this Sunday for the second running of the Bacardi 8K road race and walk.

The event proved to be a big hit last year when it debuted on the road racing calendar with just over 200 runners completing the challenging course, and around 100 walkers following in their footsteps.

A similar turnout is expected this time when the course records laid down by Lamont Marshall and Victoria Fiddick last year will go under scrutiny for the first time.

The toughest section of the course is to be found in the rolling hill that runners face once they reach the two miles turnaround point at Spanish Point and head back towards North Shore Road.

Marshall's time was an impressive 26 minutes and six seconds as he powered home just over a minute and a half clear of multi-May 24 champ Kavin Smith, while Fiddick proved an emphatic women's champion as she clocked 31.48 after what was shaping up to be a head-to-head between herself and training friend Dawn Richardson.

However, with Richardson wary of aggravating an Achilles' tendon injury from her Chicago Marathon excursion a few weeks earlier, the close battle did not materialise, although Richardson was still strong enough to finish 12th overall in 33.40.

Should the pair both arrive at the start line on Sunday another fascinating encounter is on the cards as both runners excelled in Toronto last month where Richardson won the women's marathon, while Fiddick clipped a couple of minutes from her half marathon best to finish fourth woman.

Bacardi 8K organisers have expanded this year's prize list and that includes more on offer for the swelling ranks of the senior masters category. There is now a first, second and third prize on offer for those aged 50 and beyond.

l IN overseas action, Otis Robinson secured another sub-1.20 half marathon when he competed in Texas last weekend. The Southampton runner ducked under one hour 20 minutes by the narrowest of margins ¿ one second ¿ to finish 35th overall in a race field of around 6,000.

He was fourth in his age category in the Rock n' Roll San Antonio Half Marathon, which was won by Detroit's Brian Sell in 1.02.50.

Robinson opened up with a 5.40 first mile ¿ a tad too quick for his target pace ¿ as he was pulled along by the leading runners in the full marathon race, which was being held in conjunction with the half marathon.

"I realised I had to back off and ran a 5.52 and a 5.55 for the next two miles," he said.

He then found himself in the company of African-born American runner Mary Akor, one of the lead women in the marathon who has competed twice in the Bermuda International Race Weekend Marathon.

Unfortunately the petite Akor, who had been nursing a hamstring injury earlier in the autumn, did not finish the race, however she provided a good pace for Robinson to tag along for a while.

"We ran side-by-side, but I could not keep up with her pace and after mile nine or ten she peeled away to do the next lap for the marathon," said Robinson.

He went through 10 miles in a few seconds over the one-hour mark, and then dug deep as he started to tire. Although he found the final incline in the last 150 metres brutal, he crossed the finish line in 1.19.59.

"It was one of my better races. I feel I was about 90 percent recovered from the flu I had before," he said afterwards. At the race expo he posed for a picture with US marathon record holder Khalid Khamouchi.

Robinson is now dropping down his training mileage in preparation for a one mile road race in New Hampshire in late December, followed by the Front Street mile, providing he sets a qualifying time.