MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina -- Bermuda's International 10K road race held each January has been targeted as one of a series of Pan-American events in which $20,000 will be awarded to the overall winner.

The ten race series, incorporating both existing and new events, is expected to be launched with the Barbados Half Marathon in December and will likely be immediately followed by Bermuda's 10K.

Runners aiming for the $20,000 first prize will have to compete in at least seven of 10 races. And smaller cash prizes will be on offer for the top ten overall.

Details of the Pan-American Challenge Series were revealed this week in Mar del Plata by Pan-American Athletic Commission chairman Amadeo Francis who was in Bermuda last month for the CAC cross country championships.

Francis said distance running had been chosen as the first in what he hoped would be a number of sponsored sporting events aimed at encouraging more competition in the Pan-Am area.

Most of the road races in the new series would be over 10 or 15 kilometres, with the odd half marathon.

The scheme would be organised on a points system with the runner accumulating the most points in his or her seven best races taking the overall prize.

Besides Bermuda and Barbados, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela have been named as potential hosts of the series.

Existing race directors, said Francis, were being encouraged to confirm their interest by writing to the Pan-American Athletic Commission's office in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Rules and regulations have already been drawn up and a meeting of race organisers tentatively scheduled for June.

Francis noted that participating races would have to meet certain conditions such as certified measured courses.

Said Francis in a statement released yesterday: "Apart from the development programmes which the IAAF sponsors in the region, and which have expanded markedly over the past decade, we now feel it is time to intensify our efforts to enhance competitive opportunities for the athletes emerging from these programmes.

"This is only part of a large scale effort visualised on the chart of event promotions that will be scheduled for the Pan-American region.''