record, but only three weeks for the America-based middle-distance runner to lower his old mark.

Last month Armstrong, now living in Washington DC, beat Watson's previous record of three minutes 44.2 seconds with a time of 3:43.51 at a meet in North Carolina. Last weekend Armstrong lowered that record with a time of 3:43.00 at the Northeastern University in Massachusetts where he placed fifth.

Armstrong, whose goal is to qualify for the US Nationals -- which he will get another chance to do this weekend -- felt he could have gone even faster had the `rabbits' done a better job of pacing the race.

As it turned out the Bermudian had to do much of the pace-setting himself before finishing fifth. The qualifying mark for the US Nationals is 3:41.8.

The previous weekend Armstrong ran the fastest road mile by a Bermudian when he clocked 4:04.5 in the fourth Pennsylvania Avenue Mile in Washington DC which placed him third. His Reebok team-mate, Scott Anderson, won the event.

Armstrong, who described the race as very similar to the Front Street Mile, came from eighth to second in the last 100 metres as he had the fastest last quarter of a mile of 58 seconds. The top three finishers all broke the race record set last year by Rob Lotwis of 4:06.1. Anderson won in 4:04.2.