Nine-time Bermuda Derby Half-Marathon champion Kavin Smith believes Chris Estwanik is destined to become May 24’s greatest ever runner as he continues his assault on the race’s record books.Estwanik has claimed four successive Derby wins, and is just one shy of both Ed Sherlock and Smith’s all-time record of five in a row.Tomorrow Estwanik will look to smash his own May 24 record of one hour, eight minutes and 25 seconds, having finishing agonisingly one second off his best time 12 months ago.And in an ominous warning to Estwanik’s road running rivals, Smith reckons the American could reign supreme for at least another ten years.“Everyone knows what is going to happen, but in terms of his ability it shouldn’t really be a feat.“He has been the cream of the crop since he first ran and everyone has been waiting to see who would realistically challenge him and no one has come remotely close,” said Smith, whose consecutive wins came in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.“He goes out there with a goal, he is just as young as everyone else competing and is twice as fast. He can win for the next ten years and set unprecedented records because of the calibre of runner he is.”Smith suspects the Island’s local runners just don’t take the sport seriously enough and therefore will continue to trail in Estwanik’s wake.“When you look at who is running now, and how many of them actually take running seriously, there isn’t anyone to push (Estwanik). These guys are running at their maximum and his maximum is much faster, so it’s on him to see how many wins he can get.“I’m not trying to be negative about this but it’s the truth. He is running one hour, eight minutes and, besides myself and Terrance Armstrong, he is the only person to break that mark.“The younger runners who are hitting their stride now still have another ten years before their really reach their peak, and by that time he will be far and away the best ever Derby runner.”Sherlock, now over 70 years-old, won six times between 1956 and 1962, while Smith’s nine victories are the most in the modern era.Although a Master (over 40), Smith has consistently been a top five contender up in recent years, although he has decided to call time on his illustrious competitive running career.Prior to his five successive wins, Smith won three consecutive races (1995, 1996 and 1997), but chose not to compete in 1998, when Tracey Wright won, due to personal reasons.While Smith and Estwanik are cut from the same cloth in terms of their running excellence, the pair have very different personalties.In Smith’s heyday he enjoyed to taunt his rivals in the build up to the big day, while Estwanik, perhaps as a non-Bermudian, has a more relaxed, humble approach to the competition.What astounds Smith is that the four-time champion just ran his first ever marathon the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach at such a comfortable speed, with his half-way split still good enough to win the Derby.“The one thing you can say is that Chris has run in an era when Bermudians haven’t been on the same playing field. To me it will take an overseas runner to localise before anyone can challenge him,” Smith said.“Just as Chris came here and took up residency to run and so forth, someone else could do that but by that time he will have set all the records.“He ran his first marathon a few weeks back and was comfortable through the first half of the race and if he can do that again there is no way anyone will beat him; his mile times were astonishing, almost a 10K time.“He can run with power and outpace you with his speed, so even if someone came up next to him and pressed him for a 1:08:00 time he still has the ability to do a speed time that no one else can do. “Smith added: “I haven’t had any ideas of running this year. I’m finished in terms of competitive running. The training and all that comes with it, there will be no more for me.”