The early days of the Bermuda Marathon Derby were literally a balancing act for current committee president Berwyn Cann who would photograph the event by riding backwards on a cycle.

?Vernon (VJ) Jones (now deceased) would ride a cycle in the race, because it was allowed at one time,? said Mr. Cann. ?I would sit on the back taking pictures.

?VJ would say ?I?m turning to the right? and I?d lean left. Otherwise he?d go one way and I?d go another and fall. We did some crazy things in those days.?

Mr. Cann and friend Richard J. Tucker are some of the oldest members of the Marathon Derby committee.

They have been involved since the late 1950s. Now they are passing the torch on to their daughters, sons, nieces and nephews. Royal Gazette reporter Jessie Moniz and photographer Meredith Andrews met with the committee to talk about the history of the race. The committee is a tight knit, light-hearted group of family and friends, who enjoy teasing one another.

?Berwyn and I got involved helping the organiser, my uncle Cecil Minors,? said Mr. Tucker. ?Berwyn was a friend of mine, and I needed someone who knew something about track and field.?

Mr. Cann was one of the earliest members of the Bermuda Track & Field Association. He also taught physical education and industrial arts at West End Primary.

Other, younger members of the committee include Gina and Kim Tucker (sister and brother) and Trevor and Owen Cann (brothers), Roger Lee, and Debbie and Pat Lake (daughter and mother).

?We use to meet at Richard?s apartment,? said Mr. Cann. ?It was always conveniently empty around May 24. We would start writing all the entries up at 5 p.m. for the respective age groups. Many a time we would leave at 3 a.m.?

Although the committee use to meet at Mr. Tucker?s house, the committee now tries to meet in a neutral place.

?When we used to meet at my house a certain member of the committee would always try to prolong the meeting until my wife served dinner,? said Mr. Tucker with a laugh.

?She is a very good cook. When he smelled the food he would say ?lets bring up this other issue that we hadn?t finished?, just in time for supper.?

Over the years Mr. Cann and Mr. Tucker have seen the race grow from just a handful of dedicated runners to more than 400 runners last year. ?Before I officially retire I would like to see the race with 500 entries,? said Mr. Tucker. ?I am just getting my feet wet,? said Mr. Tucker?s daughter Gina. ?The role is very intense.?

Trevor Cann said this was the first year he and other newcomers were taking a tighter role over the committee operations.

?We are just sinking our teeth into the function of the committee,? he said. ?This is definitely a baptism. This year, we have taken responsibility of the total organisation of the event.?

Berwyn Cann said it was good that he and Richard Tucker were still onboard to provide guidance. ?We can say we?ve done that and tried that method,? he said. ?We had had some dillies as far as things going wrong goes. One year we ran out of T-shirts.

?One lady didn?t get her T-shirt and she complained from one end of the Island to the other. She came in late and they were all given out. Other than that we never had too many problems.?

Within the past year the Bermuda Marathon Derby has become a registered charity. They are also looking into the possibility of giving money to other charities at the end of the race.

This year sponsors for the Bermuda Marathon Derby include Appleby Spurling & Hunter, Barritts and BGA. ?Without their support we wouldn?t be running,? said Kim Tucker.

?A lot of the money goes to T-shirts and entry forms. Each category has its own prizes. With the inclusion of AS&H the prize money has increased compared to other years.?

Mr. Tucker said there are many elite local athletes in the race who need funding. ?We are looking to help the balance of the running fraternity,? he said. ?We understand the financial strain on different runners.?

If a winner is under 18 years old they can not receive prize money, but an account will be set up for them at the BTFA. If a student needs sneakers or something relating to their racing they can ask the BTFA.

?Not boasting, but Berwyn and I have stuck through all sorts of hallelujahs and it got more popular and more popular,? said Mr. Tucker. ?We keep it local. You have to be a resident at least six months before you can apply to be in the race.?

Kim Tucker said this was appropriate since the race happens on Heritage Day. ?We are trying to emphasise local culture,? he said. The Bermuda Marathon Derby actually started a long time before Heritage Day. On May 24, 1909 a group of Bermudians were running a short race around Somerset to celebrate Victoria Day. They were observed by a group of British soldiers. The British soldiers challenged them to another race, which was set for the following June.

According to local historian Dale Butler?s book, ?Marathon ? The May 24th Bermuda Marathon Derby Classic?, after a quick start, the British raised the flag at the finish line and sang ?Rule Britannia? as Private Jordan of the Cornwall Light Infantry came first followed closely by John C. Bean, the Somerset favourite. Bermudians were peeved with this result and requested a rematch. The Bermuda Marathon Derby was born.

Today the Bermuda Marathon Derby follows the rules of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) and is sanctioned by the BTFA. ?At one time there were no women connected with the race,? Mr. Tucker said. ?Over the years there are more and more women competing in the race. For the past couple of years, in particular, the women?s numbers have increased.?

In 1976, the first woman to officially enter the Bermuda Marathon Derby was Merenette Bean, then 16, sister of race winner Cal Bean. Her time was 2:09:10.

Mr. Tucker said he has been surprised by some of the people who enter the race. He recalled the time when a local ?character? signed up.

?He came up to the start up full hot,? said Mr. Tucker. ?He wasn?t slightly inebriated. I said ?I?m sorry you cannot run in the race?. He performed. He said ?I can beat him, and I can run faster than that guy?. To get rid of him I signed him up. He finished within the first ten runners.

?It taught me a lesson. Never prejudge people. He couldn?t sign his name on the entry form.?

A well known runner was Calvin (Baldy) Hansey.

?After he finished he would run back to his job,? said Kim Tucker. ?He stuck out in my memory. I was a youth at the time. This man use to train in big black boots. He ran the race in boots.?

In the 1940s runners did not prepare for a race in the way that they do today. Runners would often have a glass of rum and then "take off" with no warm-up period.

According to Mr. Butler, the runners in the 1940s thought the alcohol would relax them. ?We know better now,? he said in a previous interview. ?People are now taking health drinks, going to the gym and going out for short runs. All that was not known in those days. There was no science to running.?

Mr. Butler said that while some early runners never practised, others were on the road every day. He said this was the case with famed local runner ?Sir? Stanley Burgess.

?People thought he was silly then, being out in the hot sun running,? said Mr. Butler. ?Stanley Burgess had all sorts of concoctions in the bathtub such as witch hazel, honey and rum to bathe in before a race.?

Financing the race has always been a concern for the committee.

?Back in the 1970s when Reggie Ming and Community Affairs decided to have a Heritage Day, they came to us and asked us if we minded if they ran the Heritage Day on the same day as the marathon,? said Mr. Cann.

?Wherever the race ended there would be people there. At that time I would negotiated with government to have money up front to cover our expenses. They gave us a grant. We worked with that for quite a few years.

The 100th anniversary if the Bermuda Marathon Derby is now only five years away, but Mr. Tucker said that he has no plans for the anniversary, as yet.

?We?ll let the young ones plan that,? he said.