Road race ace Kavin Smith has accepted Sunday's half-marathon challenge from St. George's to Hamilton which will reap a cash bonus of $2,500 if he can complete the course in one hour and eight minutes.

Smith could pocket a further $500 for finishing first.

Whether the big pay-day will be sufficient incentive to bring the best out of Smith, who earlier this week had a tooth extracted, remains to be seen.

Coach Duncan Newby isn't overly optimistic.

"The one hour and eight minutes is a big challenge. Don't forget that the fastest any local runner has been on this Island is one hour and nine minutes over this distance. You are talking about a fast time. And this is not a flat course,'' pointed out Newby.

"But Kavin will turn up, run very hard and do the best he can. It's going to be quite demanding on him to break 1.08. It's not that he can't do it, but if he had something like six weeks to train for it, there is no doubt that we could build up for that and he could be rested accordingly. But we've just had a few days' notice and that's not much.'' The coach said he felt that sponsors British American Insurance Company and the organising Bermuda Track and Field Association could have come up with a more realistic time.

One way of ensuring Smith keeps on pace would be to supplement Sunday's field with a quality four-man relay team, but Newby said he wasn't sure whether such an arrangement could be made at this late stage.

"That would be a better incentive than anything for Kavin to improve on his times. But despite all of this he will be turning up, running very hard and doing the best he can,'' said the coach.

The BTFA, meanwhile, welcomed British American as a major sponsor to the road running scene on Tuesday when the company announced that they were putting up $10,000 in total prizemoney for Sunday's half-marathon.

The event is being billed as a Family Day affair with the emphasis being placed on family participation and a number of prizes are being awarded in specific family related categories.

The race motto is: "A fit family is a healthy family'' and race organiser Lee Tucker of the BTFA is urging as many families as possible, schools and other oganisations to become involved.

While the race from St. George's to Hamilton is open to everybody another walking race from Stonington to Hamilton will also be staged. Both races will start at 9 a.m. with the run covering 13.1 miles and the walk 2.5 miles.

"The sponsors have come up with a unique event for the public to enjoy with emphasis being placed on family participation in one area and providing the elite runners with many incentive prizes. It should be a good day for everybody,'' said Tucker.

"The major cash awards will go to the male and females finishing first in the running race, but the sponsors specify that the money must go towards assisting the athletes in their training.''