Top runner Sean Trott has placed his pursuit of Appleby Bermuda Day Half-Marathon supremacy on the back burner for this year.The 24 year-old athlete has ruled himself out of the 13.1 mile road race for academic and religious reasons.“I’m doing an online course to finish my business degree and have also been more involved lately in church and ministry with the Lord,” he told The Royal Gazette. “Lately I’ve been a more involved with mentoring young people and when it comes down to saying yes to running or yes to God I’d rather say yes to him and put in that time for what he wants me to do.”Trott, who finished runner-up to Chris Estwanik last year, had contemplated running the race in spite of heavy academic and religious commitments outside of the sporting arena before eventually ruling himself out.“When May came around and I was looking at the amount of training that I had been putting in, which was only a couple of days of the week, and seeing what was going on, I thought best to take it easy this year,” he said. “Because of all the different things I have been involved in, I just didn’t feel that’s where my heart was this year and training wasn’t a priority this time around.”Trott, whose personal best in the annual event stands at 1:12.50, admitted he would miss doing the race this year but has no regrets about his decision not to compete.“I will definitely miss being a part of it but I will still be out there supporting because I’m still a fan of running as much as I love participating,” he said. “I still enjoy watching it so I will be out there supporting everyone else who has put in the work.“It’s not going to be too much of a miss because I have peace about my decision. I’ve prayed about it so I have peace about it and I’m not going to be really too upset about it. I have ruled myself out for this year but definitely not for future years.“You have to give your best to what you are called to at that time so that’s what I was called to this year and next year it might be running. You just never know.”When asked for his race predictions, Trott replied: “I know Tyler (Butterfield) is going to put in a strong showing so he’s my favourite for the day. But I can’t rule out Chayce (Smith) who I hear is doing some very good stuff. He would be my dark horse along with Stephen Allen who has had a really great season as well.“Any of those three could be in the running and I can’t count out my mate Jay Donawa who has had a bit of a resurgence either. Those four look like the strongest.”