believes it is possible to break the four-minute barrier on the Front Street course.

The fate has never before been achieved in Bermuda, but American Karl Paranya, who ran his personal best of three minutes, 56.21 seconds last summer, will be straining every sinew to break four minutes tomorrow.

Paranya, who finished fifth in the mile race last year, said: "It would be tough to break four minutes because of the way the course is, slightly uphill, with tight turns and then there is the unpredictability of the weather.

"But I was talking to Marcus O'Sullivan who has run several times in Bermuda and he definitely believes it's possible.

"You'd have to go out fast and run really well, the equivalent of running about 3:55 on the track. I don't know if it'll happen this year, though.'' The record for the Front Street Invitational Mile is 4:04.2, run by American Joe Falcon in 1992.

Paranya, who is based in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, has the quickest personal best of any of the field of nine and feels confident about his chances.

"I ran my first mile race of the season last weekend in four minutes flat and I feel that I'm running really well. They're a bunch of good guys in the field and I'm really looking forward to it,'' he added.

Paranya enjoyed the Race Weekend experience last year and thought that his knowledge of the course was a definite advantage.

"It's phenomenal. The atmosphere you get on Front Street in the evening with the crowds of people watching is great and it really helps the athletes.

"Last year, the weather wasn't very good, but the crowds still turned out and made it really special.'' Paranya will be lining up against three other men who have run sub-four-minute miles.

Canada's Allan Klassen has run 3:57.31, and although he did that in 1993, he ran 3:59.22 last year. Stephan Forcade, of France, has run 3:58.29, while Jeremy Huffman, of the USA, has a personal best of 3:59.14.

Bermuda's triathlon prodigy Tyler Butterfield has set himself a tough target for Saturday's Race Weekend 10K race.

The 15-year-old wants to knock at least a minute off the time of 34 minutes, 53 seconds, which earned him second place in last year's corresponding race.

"I want to improve a lot on last year's 10K and if I improve by a minute I'll be happy -- that is my aim,'' said Butterfield.

Butterfield has already underlined his progress in road running this month by coming third in the 7.2-mile Princess-to-Princess race.

His time was 39:43, compared to 41:18 in the same race a year earlier, a performance which gave him great encouragement.

But Butterfield's Race Weekend starts tomorrow night, with the defence of his Boys under-18 mile title.

He was expecting a tougher challenge in the Front street race than last year, when he won in 4:41.7, nearly 13 seconds clear of his nearest rival.

And in training, he has been working on what he believes to be his main weakness.

"I've been putting in a lot of speed training for the mile, over 200,400 and 800 metres,'' said Butterfield.

"I know that all the others can all outsprint me -- they're all faster than me in the last 200 metres of the race. So to win I'll need to have a good lead going into the later stages.'' This year he expected an open race, with Jeremiah Smith, whom he beat into second place last year, Richard Walcock and Larry Marshall being particularly strong contenders.

As well as his running work, the youngster's training includes swimming and cycling -- the other disciplines in his forte, the triathlon.

And he will be looking to follow up a successful 1998, highlighted by his victory in the US Junior National Triathlon Championships in Florida last August, with more triumphs when the triathlon season starts in the spring.