The first annual Utilities 5K Road Race, which will raise funds for the Bermuda athletics team travelling to the NatWest Island Games in June, will take place on Sunday.

The 5K run, children’s one-mile run, and competitive and non-competitive walks will begin at the National Sports Centre’s North Field in Devonshire.

The 5K route will take runners and walkers north on Frog Lane to Dock Hill and west on North Shore Road. Participants will then continue over Langton Hill to St John’s Road and turn left and head to Palmetto Road. They will continue on Palmetto Road until Frog Lane before heading back on to the North Field to the finish line.

The children’s run will take the juniors north on Frog Lane, before turning right onto Old Military Road and joining Palmetto Road heading west. To get back to the stadium, runners will take Devon Road onto Frog Lane.

The profits raised from the race will benefit Bermuda’s athletes, who will travel to Gotland, Sweden, this June, for the Island Games.

Bermuda hosted an extremely successful Games in 2013. The Bermuda Island Games Association has been a member of the International Island Games Association since 2001. The Island Games started in 1985 with 15 teams and has developed into an Olympics for 24 small islands with a population below 150,000. The competition is held on member islands every two years.

“The mission of the BIGA is to bring the island together through sport,” BIGA said in a statement. “We feel that all too often our sports are aimed at the very few at the top of the sporting ladder, who often compete at a level that is simply outside a level of success for the majority of our athletes. The NatWest Island Games is specifically for smaller islands, thus the Games gives our athletes the chance to compete at a level in which they can excel, and provides a yardstick for different local sports to compare themselves. It is also the perfect opportunity for up-and-coming junior athletes to gain invaluable international competition experience.”

Prizes will be awarded for juniors and seniors and participants will have the chance to win an array of door prizes.

The children’s run starts at 8.30am, walk at 8.45am and the 5K at 9am. Th cost to enter the competitive walk or 5K run is $40, the non-competitive walk is $30 and the children’s run is $10.

Those who want to take part can register online at www.racedayworld.com. Numbers can be picked up from the Studio One (Cumberland House, 1 Victoria Street) on Saturday between 9am and 12pm. Goody bags will be provided for the first 200 competitors to sign up.