The third race of the 2009 Bermuda Track and Field Association (BTFA) cross-country season will take place at Fort Scaur on Saturday, with the venue returning to the calendar after a two-year absence.

After two race days, BTFA president Donna Watson is excited how the respective age groups are setting up, with at least two runners in each division very close to top honours.

With the children entrenched in first place battles Watson is still encouraging older runners to come out and test their mettle against the courses that have been laid out.

The Bermuda Track and Field Association are looking to send a senior squad of runners to a few cross country championships in the near future and participation in the season would go a long way to making up a team to travel abroad.

"We have had a great turn out so far from the children and would like to see some of the adult road runners test themselves by running a cross country event," said Watson.

"This should be a challenging course as we haven't had a cross country event at Fort Scaur for at least two years.

"I will be accumulating the points after this weekend's events to see who is leading in each division, but I know that in some of the categories the points are very close.

"I would like to see more teenagers and adults participate in the cross country especially since we would like to send a team to the NACAC Cross country championships and maybe even the world cross country championships.

"A lot of the children who are participating are representing their track clubs, but it would also be nice to see children who are representing their schools as we have awards for the Primary, Middle and High School who has the most participants."

Runners can sign up at the race with registration beginning at 8 a.m., with the charge being $5 for all who wish to enter.