Lamont Marshall will fly the flag for Bermuda in the KPMG-sponsored Front Street mile races this evening as he looks to retain his title as fastest Islander.

He blazed to a record time in the locals’ mile race last year when he clocked four minutes, 23.07 seconds, taking two seconds off triathlon specialist Evan Naude’s mark, which has been set the previous year.

Going into this evening’s race Marshall feels confident of running a similar time to 2006 judging by his performances of late, including his mile time trial of 4:30.5 in December which exactly matched his qualifying time the previous year.

He chose not to compete in the Fairmont to Fairmont road race last Sunday in order to conserve his strength for an all-out effort in tonight’s mile showpiece.

“I’ve been running very consistently and I had a decent trial time. I thought the Fairmont race was too long and too close to the Front Street race. I didn’t think I would have had sufficient recovery,” he said.

“This week I’ve been tapering, doing nothing stressful and resting.”

His training at the moment consists of strength-building mileage, averaging around 10 miles a day with training on five or six days each week.

Marshall views Chayce Smith as his closest rival in the race. Smith ran a qualifying time of 4:39.

“He’s at college and has had a good cross-country season. He’s here for the race and has been getting some good workouts. He’s a quality runner.”

Although Front Street appears relatively flat to the casual observer, it appears far from level when you’re running flat-out along it. And the fact the mile race features two sharp turns, one at the Birdcage and another at the ‘Longtails’, makes it a particularly tricky event for athletes seeking to run a fast time — one of the reasons no elite athlete has broken 4:02 despite sub-four minute milers arriving on the Island every year for the elite event.

Marshall explained: “The second turn is the hardest. In a mile (track) race the third quarter is always the slowest. In the Front Street mile the second turn comes midway through the ‘third-quarter.’ It’s hard because you have to brake and then try to accelerate again.”

His speed brought him two notable 5K victories against Jay Donawa in 2006, the first in the ‘Sir’ Stanley Burgess 5K, believed to be the second fastest run on the Island when he clocked a personal best of 15:03. Marshall also placed second behind Terrance Armstrong in the May 24 Marathon Derby and in October pipped Donawa by three seconds to win the Crime Stoppers 5K.

Once this evening’s race is out of the way he’ll be concentrating on local road races and a number of overseas events, including a cross-country meet to which he has been invited in Florida this March.

Marshall also intends to run indoor races at New York’s Armory track this month, concentrating on 800 metres and the mile. His road races will be mostly 5K outings, although May 24 again figures in his plans.

In tonight’s women’s mile the leading contenders this year are Victoria Fiddick and Joanna Shillington.

Shillington was runner-up last year and during this season’s cross-country races has proven she can stay ahead of Fiddick. However, her qualifying time of 5:55 was five seconds slower than Fiddick’s.

In the 2006 race Shillington stopped the clock at 5:33.99 to finish a quarter-of-a-second behind winner Chantal MacIsaac, who isn’t among tonight’s field.

Fiddick placed third last year in 5:39. She prepared for tonight’s mile with a strong performance in the Fairmont race last Sunday when she came a close second to Dawn Richardson.

The 41-year-old will also run Sunday’s half-marathon, having finished second local woman in 2006 in a time of 1:30:32, just over two minutes behind Karen Bordage.

Both runners return in this year’s half-marathon, Bordage as a late entrant. She has been cycle training for the most part of recent months as part of her preparations to tackle a full Iron Man Triathlon in Brazil this May. As such she doesn’t expect to run as fast as normal.

“The International half-marathon is one of the top races in Bermuda and you kind of have to participate. As I’m training for the Iron Man I’ve been focusing on bike training because that is by far my weakest area, so I don’t think I’ll fair well at retaining my title,” she said.

“I think Victoria will be fantastic, it is good to see her back. I hope to put in a good race. Karen Smith could also give Victoria a good race. She has been a top triathlete for the past seven years.”