The club actually wound up its activities just over a year ago, said Greatorex, but many athletes only learned of its demise following news this week that the Maple Leaf 10-K, scheduled to take place in Somerset on Sunday, had been cancelled.

Harriers were approached by the Canadian Base to take over the race last year.

But the responsibility was then reportedly shifted to the club's junior group under the supervision of Steve Burgess.

"They agreed to take it over and it is because of their failure to do so that the event is not being held this year,'' said Greatorex yesterday.

Although the senior club has folded, the junior arm is reportedly still in existence. But Greatorex said he had no idea of why they had decided not to organise the the Maple Leaf race -- in recent years one of the Island's most popular 10-Ks.

Problems with the senior group developed last year when the BTFA allowed the Mid Atlantic Athletic Club use of the track at National Stadium on Thursday nights, at a time when Harriers used the track on Fridays.

Since many members of MAAC were also associated with Harriers, several found Thursdays a more convenient evening to train on the contract. As a consequence, numbers at the Harriers' Friday night session quickly dwindled.

"It became frustrating and simply a waste of time to have us go up there with very little support on the Friday,'' said Greatorex.

"Everybody resigned over a year ago and when it folded the Maple Leaf should have been taken off the calender.'' During its existence the club had close to 90 members. Its president was Steve Burgess.

Sprinter Calvin Simons leaves the Island tomorrow to run three races at the Duke University Invitational on Sunday in North Carolina.

The 27-year-old athlete, who is aiming to qualify for the Commonwealth Games this summer, intends to run in the 100, 200 and 400 metres.

Simons is counting on better weather than two weeks ago when rainy conditions prevented him from excelling at the Florida Games.

He had plans to run in both the 100 and 200 metres in Florida but only participated in the former -- and until yesterday had not got word of his official time which organisers had promised to mail to participants after they experienced trouble with their electric timing system as a result of the bad weather.

"The weather in Florida was awful with a lot of rain and thunderstorms that caused a three-hour delay to the start,'' said Simons.

"I've never run under such poor conditions, and there was no way I could run in the 400 which was scheduled to take place just after the completion of the 100,'' he added.

Simons, whose career has been plagued by injuries, ran against eight others in his heat and finished fifth. He estimated his time to have been been somewhere in the region of 11 seconds, slower than the 10.8 he had been aiming for.