a category winner had been disqualified.

Allan Douglas, a Holland native vacationing on the Island, has been stripped of his Masters title because the race is open to residents only. Race director Richard Tucker yesterday confirmed that Douglas would not be receiving the prize reserved for the top finisher in the masters (40-49) category. Instead, veteran local runner Harry Patchett, who finished second to Douglas, will be officially recognised as the Masters winner at the prize presentation on June 5.

"His (Douglas') status has been scratched and Harry Patchett is the new winner of the category,'' said Tucker.

Questions were immediately raised when the wiry Douglas strode over the finish line eighth overall in one hour, 18 minutes and 27 seconds. The name sounded familiar but his face was not seen before on the local running scene.

According to local competitor and new second master, Jim Butterfield, who admitted knowing very little about the visitor, Douglas was in Bermuda on holiday, heard about the race and simply signed up.

"Initially it was not his intention to complete the race, but wanting to have a good time recorded he ran through the chute,'' said Butterfield.

"Immediately afterward he came to me and said `Jim, how can I undo this?' "His biggest mistake was that he finished, but nobody protested or were upset that he ran.'' Douglas is believed to be a top over-40 cross-country runner back in his homeland, and the runner certainly showed his class on Monday in beating Patchett by nearly two minutes.

Meanwhile, Tucker explained that while it was the policy of the organisers to examine the names of each entrant, having a common last name such as Douglas would not raise any suspicion.

"With a Bermudian name like Douglas, who would query it?'' said Tucker.

"It's like if you had somebody name Smith, you wouldn't figure that they were not a Bermudian.

"It's only when we have a very strange name that we haven't seen in local races where we would question it. It's just so difficult to determine who is and who isn't a genuine participant.'' Rumours also abounded that the runner may have been deliberately running under a fake name -- especially since Douglas is more Bermudian than Dutch -- but these were not substantiated.

Tucker shot down comparisons to an incident in 1991 when American Lance Hess, then a teammate of local Terrance Armstrong at Rider College, appeared at the starting line and played a major role in the outcome of the race won by Mike Watson.

Armstrong, who placed second, was initially disqualified for using Hess to pace him, but later had that ruling overturned.

"This is totally different,'' insisted Tucker. "the fellow with Armstrong was not entered and didn't have a number.'' He added that this latest occurrence was nothing major and the organisers probably would not be taking any further steps in regards to screening entries.

"It's not necessary (to alter methods of determining eligibility) because of this one incident.

"As long as this sought of thing is found out before the prize presentation it doesn't matter. It won't put a damper on anything.'' ALLAN DOUGLAS -- Will not collect his Masters title because he is not a Bermuda resident.