RUNNING legend Kathrine Switzer will this weekend wear the same iconic race number she wore when she broke down the barrier for women's marathon running in Boston in 1967, writes Scott Neil.

As she lines up for her second year in the Bermuda Triangle Challenge she will be instantly recognisable with number 261. It was 42 years ago that Switzer ran with the same number in the 'men-only' Boston Marathon, beating an infamous attempt to physically pull her out of the race before going on to complete the marathon as the first woman ever to do so with a genuine race number.

On her return to Bermuda this week, Switzer has been given the same number.

"It is a symbolic number and 261 has become an iconic thing," she said, explaining that a group of women approached her at a recent pre-Boston event expo and all were proudly wearing the number emblazoned across their shirts.

Once again a guest of Fairmont Hotels, for whom she is helping to promote a fitness programme for hotel clients, Switzer said she was so energised by last year's experience that she wanted to compete again ¿ even though she faced a marathon plane journey to reach Bermuda from her home in New Zealand.

Her training for the triple-race challenge got under way in earnest in November and Switzer feels stronger this year than 2008 ¿ when she won her age category in the half marathon. However jet-lag is proving harder for her to overcome this time around and at 62 admits the advancing years are adding to the running challenge.

"It is much harder and it is like being in a different body. The ageing process has been fascinating," she said, hinting that she plans a book about how the increasing years are changing her as a runner.