patients endure at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital's Cooper Ward each day while mending from surgery.

After falling victim to a vicious hamstring pull and reserving all her energy towards last year's Marathon Derby, Conroy Haydon was reluctantly forced to withdraw from the race. Not being on the starting line was something only a strong showing in Monday's race will help to make up for.

"I think I look at May 24 as not trying to achieve any sort of time, just wanting to be part of it,'' Conroy Haydon said yesterday from her fashionable condominium in Devonshire. "Because watching everyone finish last year's race, well, I was almost in tears because I wasn't able to run it. It was awful. I can understand how Sandra feels this year.'' Sandra -- Mewett, that is -- and her exhaustive record rampage on Bermuda's premier road race will come to an end on Monday due to a broken left wrist, and clearly establishes Conroy Haydon as one of the women's favourites for the 13-mile classic, perhaps even making her the leader of the pack, which also boasts superior runners like Karen Adams, Anna Eatherley, Jane Christie and Lynn Kynoch. Mewett has had a lock on the Marathon Derby since 1984, winning the race seven times during the last 10 years, including the last five years in a row.

"I think Karen (Adams) is the favourite in my estimation,'' Conroy Haydon, who works as a part-time nurse, said. "She's so determined and so strong.

She's willing to push her body so much further, even towards pain. Especially where I've got this sort of comfort mode, I think.

"It's just that it's a hard race to predict what anybody's going to do because the weather plays such a factor in it. I hope I can keep a calm head and just go out and run it.'' Conroy Haydon has carefully scheduled her training sessions in recent days so that she can run during afternoons when it is much hotter, nurturing her best form by covering a well-worn path that skirts the east end of the Island along South Shore Road to the Mid Ocean Club before heading back home. Along that route she often cavorts knowingly alongside some of Bermuda's fastest feet -- Adams, Kynoch, Christie, Kavin Smith and Brett Forgesson.

She is taking nothing for granted in this her second Derby appearance. In 1991 she finished the gruelling course in 1:26:48, good enough for fifth place and a full five minutes behind Mewett. And that came after a bout with chicken pox. Had she been fit enough last year she wanted to cover the course under her 1991 time to around 1:23.

"But I don't know really what I'm capable of,'' she paused, with a satisfied twinkle in her eye. Wearing blue jean shorts and a pink and blue t-shirt with thin blue slippers on her feet, the ultra-distance specialist planned yesterday to take her car along the marathon's course. "But I prefer not to know every hill and bump. To keep it a surprise.'' Called the `Road Runner' by fellow workers, it is easy to see that fitness is a crucial component of her life, which she shares with her husband Mark.

Stored behind one couch is a brand new stationary bicycle and behind another is a red mountain bicycle, which she sometimes uses for training.

Originally from the western tip of Ireland in County Mayo she moved near Dublin when she was 12. She took up running seriously about nine years ago after arriving in Bermuda. Her first real test came in the New York Marathon in 1991 where she finished in 2:59:58.

Conroy Haydon, 34, considers her turning point as a runner occurred during the Dunkley's 10-K in 1992 when the miles danced past with ease and she finished first with a personal-best time of 36:49. Later, she showed rivals her heels in the ADT 10-K by finishing first and then second place in the Round The Town. She has followed up on that success in 1993 by winning most recently the Wheels 10-K in March with a time of 37:20 and the Pure Water 10-K two weeks ago with a time of 37:03. Her low point came after an unusually early soap-up after the Boston Marathon.

Conroy Haydon's performances and electrifying pace over longer hauls during the last two years have removed any doubts about her abilities. This year she has been careful to avoid injury, and believes the key to Monday's race will be her ability to tame Bermuda's menacing hills and breaking away in the second half of race where she is often strongest.

"If you go out too fast and you're worried about your opponents and what they're doing, you've lost it from the start. You have to stick to your own pace and not worry about what other people are doing.'' While others breeze through the first few miles in lightning quick fashion, she picks up speed during the latter stages of a race.

"I'm like a car,'' said Conroy Haydon, who often flashes a wide smile midway through and at the end of her sentences. "I take a long time just to get warmed up. I'm not great at 5-Ks. I only warm up after six miles.'' Her final training session for the marathon is scheduled for tomorrow and then she will eschew any training until the big race. Early on Monday morning she will swap those blue slippers for her lucky Reeboks, which she uses only for big races.

"I'll probably have Saturday and Sunday off,'' she said. "On Monday I'll get up around six. I never sleep well the night before a big race. I'll get a good night's sleep maybe on Friday or Saturday. But I'll toss and turn on Sunday night.'' MARIA CONROY HAYDON -- Almost in tears after missing last year's race through injury. Expected to be leading contender to new favourite Karen Adams in injured Sandra Mewett's absence.