place at the altar last year, romping to a comfortable victory in the Bank of Butterfield Elite Mile.

His time of four minutes, 5.1 seconds failed to eclipse Joe Falcon's course record of 4:04.16 and did not come close to the required sub-four minute time needed to earn a $10,000 bonus on offer.

Nevertheless, the Pole excited the Front Street crowd, as he ran from the front and easily held off late-charging US competitor Greg Whitely (4.06.78).

Another American, Matt Kendall, while not able to take the resurgent Pole to task, ran well within himself to finish third in 4:08.7.

Foiling Bartoszak's run at the money and record was the tricky crosswind that has become synonymous with the race and proven a virtual unbeatable foe.

"I think without the wind, maybe I might have done better and come closer to the record,'' speculated Bartoszak, and for the early moments of the race it appeared not even Mother Nature would deny him.

The reed-thin runner set out as if shot from a cannon. Such was his pace that he was running even with `race rabbit' Steve Burgess by the quarter-mile mark.

His split at that point was 59 seconds and at the half-mile mark he was still ahead of record pace.

Whitely, Todd Lewis (4:16.0) and Briton Paul Freary (4:12.9) attempted to surge on the leader immediately after the final turn, however, the latter two would eventually fall off.

Whitely may have summed it up best when he said: "It was purely a survival race. It was my first race of serious note and I'm not used to that kind of speed.'' Yes, there is no substitute for speed and there was no denying Bartoszak had it.

Thunderous applause from the thousands on hand greeted his arrival at the finish line, emphasising a `job well run'.

Both Bartoszak and Whitely concurred that four minutes was not an unbreakable barrier...it just required a little cooperation from "up above''.