He was king of the road this year and, come next month, Luiz Carlos Ramos will be in the running - literally - for the Marathon crown again.

This year's winner of Bermuda International Race Weekend's showpiece - the Bermuda International Marathon - will defend his title come January 19. The Brazilian is the only one of this year's champions who has so far accepted an invitation to compete in the 2003 event.

"He is coming back. The winner of each race automatically gets an invitation for the next year and we know he is definitely coming. The others haven't been confirmed yet," said race secretary Pam Shailer yesterday.

Ramos, who had won six marathons before his victory here, beat the Marathon's 2001 winner Fedor Ryzhov of Russia into second. The South American completed the scenic two-loop 26.2-mile route, that includes South Road, Devil's Hole, Harrington Sound, North Shore Road and Blackwatch Pass before ending at its Front Street start, in two hours, 26 minutes and 25 seconds.

The three-day weekend of athletics will, as usual, begin with the Front Street Mile races on Friday, January 17, before the Bermuda International 10K and Charity Walk the following day and, finally, the Marathon and Half-Marathon on the Sunday morning.

So far 471 competitors, including 421 from overseas, have entered the race weekend but entries are not expected to exceed this year's numbers. Last January 758 foreign competitors and 685 Bermuda residents competed in the annual athletics centrepiece.

"I don't see them (numbers of entries) going up over the previous years. When you look at tourism overall and the economic situation in the States, people aren't travelling but I would like to think numbers would stay about the same as last year.

"It may be a bit early though because the entry deadline for overseas athletes just closed at the end of November so their entries are still arriving in the mail and, for locals, the deadline is the end of December and they traditionally wait until the last minute," said Shailer.

The race official added that the race committee was yet to decide on how many elite runners would be invited to the event or on the amounts of prize money.

"There was a lot of interest when we went to the New York Marathon Exposition. That's traditionally when we see a lot of the runners who want to come. We get far more requests to come to Bermuda than we can afford because we pay their (elite competitors) airfare and accommodation.

"We bring in about 30 for the weekend but we get well over a hundred (applications) and we have to scrutinise their times and see if they are fit. Things like that," she explained, adding that Elite Liaison Officer Judy Simmons was now sifting through the elite athletes' requests.

Shailer said prize money should be determined soon. Last year's men's and women's champions received cash prizes as follows: the Marathon - $3,000 each; Front Stree Mile - $2,000 each; the Half-Marathon and the 10K - $1,000 each.

Entry forms and brochures are available at local sports stores, gyms and athletic clubs. They can also be downloaded from the Bermuda Track and Field Association's (BTFA) website: www.bermudatracknfield.com. The deadline for local entries is December 27. Late entries will be accepted up to the day before each event with an increased fee.