Twins Neil and Neville Virgil will be honoured during next week’s Appleby Bermuda Half-marathon Derby with a new award put up by the Knowles family.

The Virgils, who finished first and second in the 1964 race, died last year five months apart, Neil in April last year and Neville in September.

There will now be a trophy presented to the siblings who have the fastest combined time in the race.

“Twin Corner will be located next to Boyle & Sons [Queen and Church Street] and the family will be there to cheer everyone on and we are calling it Twin Corner,” said Dr Gina Tucker, the president of the Bermuda Half-marathon Derby committee.

“I think it is a nice tribute to them, in recognition of their contribution and it is an exciting addition this year. We’re thankful to the Knowles family for doing that and we’re honoured to be able to facilitate that. It can be more than two siblings but the two lowest-combined times will be considered.”

The race switches to a Somerset start this year and there will be a new men’s champion with Chris Estwanik, the six-times winner, ruled out with a foot injury. His wife, Ashley, has already signed up to defend her title. More than 900 runners are registered, including 75 teams of four for the relay.

Although there is not the same hype this year compared to last year when the race started in St George’s for the first time in 39 years, the numbers are still impressive heading into tomorrow’s deadline for online entries.

“This is the countdown and there will be a new men’s champion so that will provide new excitement,” Tucker said.

In Estwanik’s absence there will be several contenders for the men’s title, including Stephen Allen, Tyler Smith and Chris Harris who have all signed up.

n Parents of the athletes sent invitations to compete in next week’s Heritage Junior Classic are asked to confirm their participation in the invitation-only race by tomorrow. They can contact race official Clarence Smith on 234-4012 or 337-1447, or drop their entry forms off at Sportseller in Hamilton.

Ryan Outerbridge and Selah Tuzo were last year’s winners, Outerbridge finishing the two-mile race from Front Street to Bernard Park in 11min 25sec while Tuzo tied Kyrah Scraders’s girls record of 12.14 set in 2009.

Tuzo’s time was 32 seconds faster than her winning time in 2014.