Just how fast is 100 metres in 10.5 seconds?

It’s faster than the time recorded by all but one of the 29 sprinters in the men’s qualifying round of the 2012 Olympics.

It’s faster than the fastest man in the world in 1920.

It’s fast enough to outrun an elephant. For a few moments, anyway.

It’s as fast as Johann Smith ran about a decade ago, when last he raced competitively.

And as far as the FC Edmonton trialist knows, it could still be as fast as he moves now.

Maybe we should test it out,” Smith laughed. “Get Usain Bolt over here.”

A 27-year-old from Bloomfield, Conn., the forward is battling for one of the final roster spots on FC Edmonton, which opened 2015 training camp this week at the Commonwealth Recreation Centre.

He’s unofficially but undoubtedly the quickest player in camp, and if this gig doesn’t work out, he could possibly crack the field for the Track Town Classic in July, but there’s a reason Smith is on the pitch and not the track.

Actually, there are a whole lot of them. Good ones, too.

“The art of the game, the math of the game, just how in depth you can get,” said Smith.

“It’s a simple game but it’s a complicated game as well. It’s just a beautiful game.

“It’s something that keeps your brain working all the time, rather than just being a start line and hearing the gun and going. There’s a little bit more to football than that, so that’s what’s always intrigued me.”

He’s chased this dream around the world, and hasn’t really stopped running yet. From the EPL to MLS leagues in Croatia, Scandinavia (Kalmar FF) and Australia, and now Edmonton, where he’s quickly make a positive impression on Eddies manager Colin Miller.

“His attitude is excellent,” Miller said. “He comes with some experience, for sure, and of course that athleticism, which the game at the next level — the top level — is all about. It’s all about pace. He brings that, so I’m pleased with him so far.”

The five-foot-eleven Smith comes by his quickness naturally. His dad Leonard raced internationally for Jamaica, while his younger sister, Stacy-Ann, won gold with the United States 4x400 women’s relay team at the 2010 World Junior Championship and has recently competed in the 4x100-metre relay at international meets.

Smith tore up the track at Watkinson high school, where he was also an all-state performer in soccer, but effectively gave up the former in pursuit of the latter when he signed a deal with the Bolton Wanderers, then of the premiership.

After playing handful of games in England between 2006 and 2008, Smith spent a year with Toronto FC. Since, He has since darted from team to team overseas, most recently scoring four goals in eight matches for Cumberland United of the South Australian Premier League.

He realizes that speed only gets you so far. Just as in a race with an elep

hant, being caught is inevitable, and survival requires other skills. And given Smith is only a couple months away from turning 28, it won’t be that long before his is a race against time.

“At first when I was young, you rely on your speed a lot … but when you’re going at a pace it’s hard to keep the ball under control, it’s tough to control the ball when you’re going that fast so it’s something you have to really work on,” Smith said.

“I’ve been working hard on it my entire life, but really now I’ve been working on my technique a lot more, so getting in behind without the ball. Hopefully I can penetrate and use my speed a lot to benefit the team.”

brian.swane@sunmedia.ca

@SunBrianSwane

PEAK AHEAD

In his time coaching FC Edmonton, Colin Miller has established a demand for fitness that has given his sides more endurance than arguably any other in the North American Soccer League.

It starts at pre-season camp in February, and continues in every training session the team has through its spring and fall seasons until the referee’s final whistle in November.

After two seasons under his stewardship, the Eddies are clearly following Miller’s mantra, as evidenced this week at the Commonwealth Recreation Centre, where preparation for the 2015 competition has begun.

Instead of starting the pre-season by having his charges do something along the lines of twice-a-day running, as Miller was accustomed to when he was a player in the early ’80s, the coach has been able to let them play soccer, given they have arrived in better shape.

“I told them at the end of season, ‘If you come in and all you’ve done is eat rubbish all off-season, you’ll pay the price,’ ” Miller said. “ ‘We’ll put the soccer balls away and we’ll have a game of running,’ and thankfully the players have really stuck to the fitness program that (they) were given.”

The Eddies will continue to train in Edmonton until March 15, when they depart for Florida where they will spend the remainder of the pre-season leading right into their season-opening match at Jacksonville Armada FC on April 4.

“There’s still different levels, we don’t want them to peak at this point in February, we want them to be flying by the time April 4 comes,” continued Miller, “so I have to say that the guys, for the most part, have really looked after themselves in the wintertime.”