Kavin Smith believes he is capable of shaving more than two minutes off the new Bermudian half-marathon record, which he set only last Sunday.

Smith wrote himself into the record books by winning the annual 13.1-mile race in 1:08:51, the best time ever recorded on the Island.

And he set the new figures despite suffering from a stomach bug on the day, which gave him such pain that he had to stop for a half-minute breather during the race.

The 31-year-old Bermuda Telephone Company worker, whose record earned him a $1,000 prize, hinted that his best was yet to come.

"There is no reason why I should not be able to run one hour, six minutes, if I got really serious about training for it,'' said Smith.

Smith believes he was afflicted by a virus last weekend. He was still in agony long after the race had finished and was eventually taken to hospital, suffering from nausea, but he was not detained overnight.

If Smith can improve as much as he believes he can, Bermuda's top road racer would put himself into the world-class bracket.

With International Race Weekend coming up in January, Smith said he was tempted to test himself again over the half-marathon distance, though he had not yet decided which event he would enter.

"It would be interesting to see what time I would get over 13 miles without having to stop,'' he said.

"I was so comfortable and going so easily on Sunday, I never had to dig deep, so I could do it much quicker.

"But I did six miles on Sunday in 30 to 31 minutes and it seemed so easy, so it would be nice to try the 10K flat-out to see what I could do.'' Smith believes he is a stronger runner now than ever before and he gives much of the credit to Hamilton-based therapist Glenn Robinson, for helping him to deal with the muscular problems in his lower back which have plagued him for years.

"My back was in pain every time I ran, but this year that has changed and I'm grateful to Glenn for that,'' said Smith.

"I've been going to him for massage for about six years and he's also taught me stretching routines to help me look after my back.'' Smith trains regularly with another of the Island's most talented runners Jay Donawa, an arrangement which he believes benefits them both.

"It's great training with Jay, but I think we'd both do even better if we could have group training with more top-class runners like the Kenyans do.

"They have so many runners, they push each other and they end up running world-class times in training.''