Both the men's and women's KPMG Invitational Front Street Mile reigning champions are lined up to defend their titles this Friday in the showpiece start to the 35th running of the Bermuda International Race Weekend.

England's Neil Speaight and Jamaica's Kenia Sinclair were the victors in the blue ribbon event 12 months ago. For Speaight it was a second crowning moment to go with his 2007 win, while Sinclair became the first to win the newly introduced elite race for women.

The elite races are shaping up to be as competitive as ever.

Another two-time winner, James Thie (Wales) is also returning to battle for the top honours and others in the race are Shadrack Biwot of Kenya, American's Sean Brosnan and Steve Slattery and Ethiopia's Abiyot Endale, who was sixth last year.

Another Ethiopian taking part is Kumsa Megersa, who has run four miles in under 20 minutes.

Of particular interest for locals is the appearance of Bermuda's Lamont Marshall, who is making his debut appearance in the top tier elite race.

Last October he ran a lifetime best of 4.10 in the Fifth Avenue Mile race in New York.

The women's race line-up is headed by Olympian Sinclair, but in the mix will be fellow Jamaican Korene Hinds, last year's runner-up Aziza Aliya, of Ethiopia, and World Cross Country Championship athlete Belaynesh Zemedkun, also of Ethiopia.

Former Island resident Olga Firsova has returned from the Czech Republic to compete. She worked at the Elbow Beach Hotel before the main buidling closed at the end of last year.

Firsova won the Labour Day Five Mile road race, PartnerRe 5K and Crime Stoppers 5K during her stay on the Island and broke five minutes in last year's Fifth Avenue Mile.

Here is a run-down of the elite athletes to watch in the KPMG Invitational Front Street Mile this Friday:

Neil Speaight (England) The reigning champion won last year's event in 4.19. Speaight has become a familiar face in the Friday night elite race over the years.

He was also the 2007 champion. His personal best time is 3.58, set in Boston. He has competed in the Commonwealth Games, World Indoor Championships and last year the European Indoor Championships. He has run 29.45 for 10K on the road.

James Thie (Wales) A two-time winner of the mile race and, like Speaight, a familiar face at the event.

He is the Welsh mile record holder with a best time of 3.57 and has competed in the European and World Indoor Championships and the Commonwealth Games.

Thie won on Front Street in 2003 and 2004 when he ran 4.10 and 4.18 respectively.

Steven Slattery (USA) American track international Slattery has competed in number of World Championships as a 3,000m steeplechaser.

His best for a mile is 3.56 set in New York in 2006. He has also run 5,000m in 13.36.

Shadrack Biwot (Kenya) Last year was a good one for Biwot as he set lifetime bests at 5,000m outdoors and 3,000m indoor.

Competing in Eugene, Oregon, he ran a 5,000m race in 13.36 in April, and only two months earlier clocked 7.55 for an indoor 3,000m at New York's Armory. He has also run sub-30 for 10K.

Lamont Marshall (Bermuda) Bermuda's Marshall wrote his name in the Island's athletics record books in November when he set a new best time for a Bermudian in a road race 10K, clocking 31.02 in the Veteran's Day race in Washington DC.

He finished fourth in a race won by Ethiopia's Abiyot Endale, who also runs in this year's race.

Marshall has set lifetime mile bests in consecutive years in the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York, and currently has a best of 4.10. Tonight is his first appearance in the elite line-up.

Sean Brosnan (USA) American Brosnan ran a 4.04 in November's Fifth Avenue Mile in New York. The Californian athlete was fourth in August's Falmouth Mile Race in 4.06.

Kumsa Megersa (Ethiopia) A late addition to the race list, Megersa will also run in the 10K. He has run 19.54 for four miles.

Abiyot Endale (Ethiopia) He competed in last year's Front Street Mile and finished sixth in 4.22.

The following day he ran the 10K and was fifth in 30.06. Based in New York, Endale is a frequent racer on the US road race scene.

He most recently he won November's Veterans' Day 10K in Washington DC in a time of 30.11. He has an IAAF-listed personal best for 5,000m is 13.39.

In the women's race the athletes are:

Kenia Sinclair (Jamaica): One of Jamaica's greatest middle-distance runners, Sinclair is the reigning champion having won the first Front Street Mile elite race for women last year in 4.44. She was sixth in the 2008 Olympic Games 800m final in Beijing and holds the Jamaica national record for the distance at 1.58.16.

She set that time at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006, where she won the silver medal.

Korene Hinds (Jamaica): Best known as a 3,000m steeplechase athlete, Hinds was fourth in that event at the 2004 World Championships in Finland and has a best of 9.30 for that distance.

On the flat she can cover 3,000m in 9.18, 800m in 2.03 and the metric mile (1,500m) in 4.17.

Over the mile she has a lifetime best of 4.39, which she ran in Florida last January. She finished third in last year's Front Street Mile, with a time of 4.52.

Aziza Aliyu (Ethiopia): Last year's runner up in 4.46, Aliya races over a great range of distances.

She was runner-up in the 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Her current best times include 9.19 for 3,000m, 15.41 for 5,000m, 32.43 for 10K and 1.11 for the half marathon.

Olga Firsova (Czech/Russia): Former Bermuda resident Firsova won last year's Bermuda Labour Day Five Mile Race in an event record of 29.02.

She also set a course record securing victory in the PartnerRe 5K in 17.53 and ran 4.59 in the Fifth Avenue Mile open women's race in New York last September.

For much of the past decade she has been based in the Czech Republic and has run 36.01 for 10K and a 4.35 for a track 1,500m.

Belaynesh Zemedkun (Ethiopia): A 3,000m specialist with a wide range of ability, Zemedkun has competed in three World Cross Country Championships and the World Junior Athletics Championships.

Her best for the metric mile (1,500m) is 4.14, which she ran in Spain in 2006. Last August she clocked a 1.10 in a half marathon in San Diego, California. She is also capable of breaking 32 minutes for 10K.

Sara Slattery (USA): American international track and cross country runner Slattery has a personal best over 10,000m of 31.57, set in Helsinki in 2006. Back in 2003 she was the NCAA indoor 5,000m champion.

Her range of racing distances is impressive, with an indoor mile best of 4.40 and a 15K time of 50.47. She is married to fellow American international athlete Steven Slattery, who is also competing in Bermuda this weekend.

¦ A look at the elite athletes in the 10K, half marathon and marathon races will appear in tomorrow's paper.