One of Bermuda's oldest road races takes place this coming Sunday when the Cornerstone Development Group 10-Miler goes under starter's orders at the South Road side of the Botanical Gardens.

Competitors will face what is regarded as one of the best race routes on the Island - taking a straight and mostly flat route out to the Mid Ocean Golf Club at Tuckers Town and returning the same way.

The only undulations of note are McGall's Hill on the way out and the return uphill past Harrington Hundreds to St. Mark's Church.

Every year since 1980 the 10-mile race has featured in the Island's athletics calendar, and it is noted for producing fast times, including the Bermuda record for the distance set in 1981 by four-times May 24 champion Mike Watson.

The 10-mile record had previously stood for 23 years and belonged to David Saul (later to become Premier), recorded during his teenage years in 1957 as he aspired to compete in the 1960 Rome Olympics.

Saul already owned the Bermuda records for one, two, three and five miles and was building towards the 10,000 metres and his dream of running at the Olympics.

In 1957 the Bermuda Amateur Athletic Association, later to become the BTFA, organised the Island's first 10-mile road race, which was won by 17-year-old Saul in a time of 52 minutes, 53 seconds.

That time would remain unbroken for the next 23 years and is all the more remarkable for the fact that not only was Saul running in a pair of tennis shoes, the international athletics rules of the day forbade runners taking drinks during such a race distance.

Saul's Olympic dream did not happen. He underwent a long hospital stay in early 1960 while a student at Loughborough University in England - the seat of learning that would eventually turn out a host of world-beating athletes including legendary middle-distance runner Sebastian Coe.

Saul remained highly competitive and broke his own Bermuda three-mile record in the national championships of 1967, 10 years on from his golden year of 1957.

It was in 1980 that Saul and the Mid Atlantic Athletic Club organised a 10-mile road race along South Road with the intention of breaking the 1957 record. The following year Mike Watson managed to better the mark.

The popularity of the 10-mile race continued and it has stuck in the athletics calendar.

On the 25th anniversary of the race, Saul donated a new silver champions cup to replace the 1980 cup.

And last year, a full 50 years on from his original record, Saul took part in the Cornerstone race again, when the winner was Jay Donawa. Saul continues to race and is now in his 54th year of competition.

Runners looking to take part in this Sunday's race can register online at www.maac.bm