Andrew Moore has the potential to beat the chimes and break the record in the Timebuster sprint around the Octagon at 10am today.
The race was first held in 1992 and the chimes were beaten for the first time last year by Cory Innes, in a record time of 31.63sec.
Moore (24), a member of Brent Ward's sprint squad, showed that he has the credentials by running the fastest 400m time in New Zealand this season at Invercargill last weekend.
His time of 46.95sec was just 0.38sec slower than the Otago senior men's record run by Innes, the three times national senior champion, three years ago.
The Timebuster race around the Octagon has, for the past 18 years, officially launched the central city market day.
Innes was the first to beat the 10 chimes of the Dunedin Town Hall clock and collected prizemoney of $1050 for his effort.
The previous record of 32sec was set by Phil Harrison, on the first run in 1992.
At that time the race was 273m long.
Alterations to the Octagon have added another 5m and the length of the race is now 278m.
It starts and finishes on a hill outside the New Zealand Shop.
It is uphill at the start and also finishes with an uphill sprint.
The key to wining the race is to get in front up the first hill to get the inside running down the slope to the Regent Theatre.
National secondary schools medallist Toby Flett is the only runner in the men's field who is capable of matching Moore at the start but he does not have the endurance to sustain the fierce pace that is needed to win the race.
The race field is limited to six men and six women.
Fiona Hely, the national junior women's 200m champion, should keep the title in the family for the third year in a row.
She won the women's title in 37.15sec last year.
Her older sister Nicola won in 2007. Hely (20) was almost 5sec quicker last year than in her fourth place two years ago.
The secret behind Fiona Hely's rapid improvement over the last two years is her increased strength that has been developed by lifting weights in the gymnasium. The only challenge for Hely will come from nationally ranked sprinters Larissa Dyke and Lauren Wilson.
