May 24th Marathon Derby. Now he is on a mission to win back his crown.

With last year's winner Mike Watson deciding to watch the prestigious race from the sideline and runner-up Terrance Armstrong's presence far from certain, Wright has emerged as one of the favourites behind the in-form Kavin Smith.

"I feel I am on the rebound this year,'' said an enthusiastic Wright this week. "I wasn't really ready like I wanted to be for last year's race. Going into it my performances was on a downswing. But I definitely feel that I will be in better shape going into this one.'' Wright isn't predicting a repeat of his 1990 victory, but he expects to do better than last year.

He feels well prepared for the challenge although he isn't nearly as strong as he was two years ago.

Last year, as well as lack of preparation, Wright was adversely affected by the blistering pace of the leading pack.

"The race just started too fast. I had to really push out in order to stay with them. By the time we reached White Hill I decided to let them go hoping they would burn out, but I guess they didn't afterall,'' he said.

Three-time winner Watson raced home in 1:12:56 last year with Armstrong following in 1:13:22, Brett Forgesson (1:13:32) and Wright (1:14:28).

Wright said his main goal was to try and beat his winning time of two years ago when he finished in 1:13:12. That year Armstrong was second in 1:13:27 and Watson third in 1:13:30.

A steady performer in road races and cross country this season, Wright last week won the Sunlife 10-K in a time of 33:13, beating out Kevin Tucker (33:53) and Brett Forgesson (33:57).

"I felt good in that race, it showed that my form is coming back. But I have been running a lot of these shorter races through the winter just to compete, not really going all out to win. There have been times when I could have done better,'' said Wright.

TRACY WRIGHT -- High hopes for this year's May 24th Marathon Derby.