Bermuda's 2004 triathlon season gets underway this weekend with the arrival on the Island of Barry Shepley, one of the world's leading triathlon coaches.

Based in Ontario and a one-time coach of Simon Whitfield, the Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medallist, Shepley will be conducting coaching clinics for adults and juniors and will also be guest speaker at tonight's Bermuda Triathlon Association's (BTA) prize-giving dinner.

He was recently inducted into the Canadian Triathlon Hall of Fame after more than 20 years' contribution to the sport in Canada. He was the coach of the Canadian team for the 2000 Olympics and was the founder of the hugely successful "Kids of Steel" triathlon series for juniors that has helped Canada produce several outstanding triathletes.

Meanwhile, the BTA have announced a full slate of races for the season which will again include the popular Bank of Bermuda Individual and Team Triathlons and the Capital G Ironkids Triathlon.

The association's junior programme continues to flourish with more than 60 youngsters involved in training programmes, many of them seeking to follow in the footsteps of Tyler Butterfield who is now recognised as the most exciting local prospect in the sport.

Butterfield continues to train in Australia after an eighth place finish in the 19-23 Elite Division in the 2003 World Championships held in December in New Zealand. He will be on the starting line for the 2004 Triathlon World Championships to be held in Portugal in May as he seeks to improve his world ranking and gain a place in the Olympics in Athens.

With Butterfield and cyclist Kris Hedges racing abroad this season, the battle for overall honours in local races in the men's division should be tight. Jamie Smith, former national triathlon champion Neil de ste Croix, Riian Naude, Jamie Pedro and Norbert Meyer are again expected to be in contention along with outstanding junior Geoffrey Smith, who last year, at the age of 16, won the Bermuda Triathlon Sprint Championships.

A number of promising juniors also made their mark in 2003 and Coyatito Smith, Dominique Nannette and Khamari Greaves should again feature prominently this year.

On the women's side the absence of Karen Smith from the field for the first part of the season as she awaits the birth of her second child will leave the way open for the likes of Dee McMullen and Kim McMullen as well as junior Flora Duffy.

Duffy has emerged as an exciting talent and should be strongly motivated as she has been accepted into Kelly College in the UK for September where she will be coached by former top professional triathlete Robin Brew who led the Bermuda International Triathlon in 1989 before mechanical problems put him out of contention.