Sean Trott, second in the Appleby Bermuda Half Marathon in his last race in 2012, is making a comeback.

Trott has been missing from the local running scene for the past couple of years, stepping back to pursue other interests, including an online degree through the Mount St Vincent University programme.

Now Trott is ready to pick up where he left off three years ago, setting himself a goal of a top 20 finish.

“Basically I’m just trying to get back into it, I started training again this year so I’m not really expecting to be a contender this year,” Trott said. “I’m just getting my feet wet again and my goal is just to be within the top 20 this year, I feel I can do that, at least.”

The 25-year-old has run the race seven times, with his best performance three years ago when he finished behind Chris Estwanik. He began as a junior in 2006, running a time of 1hr 46min 29sec, but by 2009 he had shaved almost half-an-hour off his time, setting a new junior male record of 1:16:47 in finishing fifth overall behind Estwanik, Tyler Butterfield, Lamont Marshall and Kavin Smith while still only 19.

In his last two Derby races Trott finished third in 2011 in a personal best of 1:12:51 and second in 2012 in 1:14:48. His last race of any kind was two years ago in the Lindo’s to Lindo’s, so he accepts there will be some time before he gets back to where he was.

“I just did some basic things to keep fit over the last few years so I was a little rusty coming out of the break that I had,” Trott said. “It’s taken some work but I’ve been happy with how the times have been dropping since I’ve been back.

“I started training around February and since then I’ve made good progress. As long as I’m in the 1:20-1:30 range I’ll be happy with that this year.”

Down time after completing his degree and watching other people run finally got to Trott and it was then that he decided it was time to get back out on the road.

“I finished the degree in December, and once I finished that I had the extra time and that’s what got me back out again.

“I definitely kept up with it [running] as a spectator and I enjoyed watching the guys who I competed against doing well.

“I started missing it again and that’s what brought me back into it. I just hope to build off this one as a start and get back to where I was before.”

Trott admits his preparation work has been low key, but word got out that he was planning a comeback.

“I had been keeping it secret, training on the beach and the trails, but I’m excited to see this happening again,” he said.

“I’m not too bad on the hills, but probably the part that looks challenging to me is the hill that goes from Saltus Cavendish up to ZBM.

“I’m just getting back into the distance and at that point of the race I don’t know how that will affect me.

“10ks and half marathons are probably my main thing and I’ll keep getting fit and building up for those next season and see where it takes me.”