Rico this weekend the door has been opened for newcomer Nick Ward to register his first local road race victory.

Ward, a waiter at a Hamilton restaurant, ran Smith a close second in the recent Ed Sherlock five miler when he clocked 28.10 compared to Smith's 27.37.

A week earlier, on his local debut, he also finished second (33.40) to Smith (32.03) in the Pure Water/Tropicana 10K.

But this Sunday he gets a golden chance to take both individual and overall honours when he teams up with marathoner Kim Mason for the popular annual Couples Road Race in which the men run five miles and the women five kilometres (3.1 miles).

Overall winners are determined by the best combined times and with seedings preventing the top men pairing up with the leading women, the combination of Ward and Mason should prove a difficult one to beat.

Possible contenders would have been Brett Forgesson and Anna Eatherley, but they have opted to take part in the married couples category.

The race gets underway at 9.00 a.m. on Sunday from the offices of sponsors Fidelity Investments on East Broadway.