attract more teams and generate more excitement.

Organiser Stephen DeSilva, road running president of Bermuda Track and Field Association, said the changes had been agreed with sponsors The Royal Gazette to reverse a trend of dwindling entries in recent years.

Teams from different companies will need three members this year instead of four and this time the course will be run in one-mile loops, starting and finishing at National Stadium.

The first runner will run four miles, the second three miles and the third two miles on a loop taking the athletes south on Montpelier Road, east along Middle Road, north on Fort Hill Road and then south along Montpelier Road and back to National Stadium.

Entry fee is $40 per team and the deadline is 4.00 p.m. today. Entries should be handed in at the Stationery Store on Reid Street.

Late entries will be accepted at number pick-up on Friday and Saturday at the BTFA offices, above the Winner's Edge bike shop on Church Street, at the increased fee of $50.

"We looked at things we could improve on and the biggest aim was to reinvent it so it took on a sense of something new,'' said DeSilva. "By reducing the number in a team to three, we made the race a shorter time and made a team easier to put together.

"Also this time the longest leg will be run first, instead of the shortest.

This will mean the race gets faster as it goes on, instead of slower.

"Running the loops will enhance the team concept and make it better to watch.

Instead of the runner disappearing for a while and only being seen again at the finish, his team-mates will see him again once every mile.'' Team members must be employed by the same company or public service. Firms with less than 15 employees may join with one another to field teams, provided they are in the same line of business.

Queries on team structure should be cleared through race director DeSilva, whose decision will be final.

Runners not registered with the BTFA must pay a $10 fee additional to the team fee.

The event starts at 9.00 a.m. on Sunday.