Defending champion Courtney Babcock has watched the elite women's field for the 10K dwindle almost before her eyes.

But, beyond the immediate goal of retaining a title which she won on her first attempt at the distance a year ago, she is focusing on Sydney and meeting the Canadian qualifying standard for the 10,000m at the Olympics.

Babcock was a 5K specialist when she came to Bermuda 12 months ago but she clocked 34:55 to finish nine seconds ahead of Lynn Deninno, with whom she ran neck and neck for most of the race.

But Deninno will not be back this year and neither will Babcock's team-mate at the Mountain West Track Club in Montana, Michele Chalmers, who finished third last year.

Cathy Vasto, of the US, has also pulled out and 1999 European Cup 5000 metres champion Breeda Willis, from Ireland, became the latest casualty, phoning in sick yesterday morning.

"It's starting to look as if I'll be running out there by myself,'' said the personable 27-year-old, a member of the Canadian World Cross Country team in 1999. "I'm disappointed that some of the women have had to pull out but I'm sure there will be a couple who will give me a challenge.

"I do prefer to run with someone. Last year it was good to have someone I was familiar with to run with in my first 10K because I didn't really know what to expect.

"I guess this year I'm a little more confident in the 10K so if I need to do something, I'll be able to do that more so than last year.

"I've done two 10Ks since then, but this is my 10K homeground and I'm really looking forward to it.'' One of those two races, in Chiba, Japan, brought her a personal best at the distance of 32:13. But to make the Canadian team for the 2000 Olympics she needs to beat 32:30 on the track.

"My main goal is to make the Olympic standard,'' she said. "I'll probably try in the 5K as well, but I'm focusing on the 10K. My road time is faster than the standard, so now I just have to do it on the track.'' But how easy has it been to shift up to double her normal distance.? "I think in the last year I've known I was going to move up,'' she said, "so it's helped me mentally to think of myself as a 10K runner. Now, instead of having two miles to go and thinking that's a long way, I kind of think it's the end of the race.

"It's been a good transition actually and I've been lucky to stay healthy.'' With poor weather conditions forecast Babcock is not expecting to break any records.

"I know either way it's a tough course so I know my time is not going to be the fastest I've ever run,''she said. "I think I'm more concerned about keeping the winning run going.'' Tomorrow, meanwhile, with last year's men's marathon winner Simon Cheregony declining the invitation to defend his title, the spotlight falls on a Moroccan who has already qualified for Sydney 2000.

And unlike Cheregony, who was a novice at the distance, El Afoui Boubker has some pedigree.

Boubker won the Casablanca Marathon in 1999 in a personal best time of 2:10.44 -- a course record. A year earlier he set another course record -- 2:16.57 -- at the Bratislava Marathon. That season, he added the Caen Marathon in France to his impressive resume, which also includes a victory over the distance in Eindhoven, Holland, in 1997.

But Boubker's mind is not foremost on breaking records.

"I have come here to win,'' he said through translator Nick Riviere, a Moroccan born Haitian who will warm up for the marathon by running the 10K today.

"I am looking for a great performance here in Bermuda but it's really difficult for me to predict a time because of the weather situation. "But my main goal here is to win and that is what I'll be focusing on -- not time.

Boubker added: "I've rUn marathons where it has been very humid but not as windy as it seems here, so that will be my main obstacle.

"If it stays as windy as it is, it's definitely going to be a slow, tactical race.'' Boubker may be hardest pressed by Russian Aleksey Balosludtsev, who has a personal best of 2:14.55.

In the women's marathon, meanwhile, Balosludstev's compatriots Valentina Shatyeva and Lyudmila Korchagin will be hoping to make an impression. The former has a marathon best of 2:43.38, while Korchagin has clocked 2:34.39 -- some six minutes faster than Yelena Plastinina's course record of 2:40.50 set in 1998.

Plastinina, the Ukrainian winner in the past two years, is unable to race because of a bureaucratic mix up she experienced in the US last summer.

Courtney Babcock: The Canadian runner has made a seamless transition from 5K to 10K specialist.