Thirteen members of the Tri-Hedz Junior Triathlon Club, along with seven senior triathletes, competed in the Mrs T's Chicago Triathlon last weekend.

As expected, excellent performances were achieved throughout the group but Geoffrey Smith and Flora Duffy undoubtedly stole the show with two first place finishes each.

Mrs. T's is the worlds largest triathlon with approximately 8,000 triathletes competing over the weekend and an estimated crowd of 500,000 cheering them on.

The event got off to a bad start on the Saturday when the swim leg of the junior event was cancelled at the last minute due to lake pollution following recent heavy rainfall. An extra run leg was inserted, effectively making the event a duathlon.

This may have deterred sum of the 800 strong field but not Smith and Duffy, even though they are both extremely strong swimmers. Smith won the 11-14 boys age division comfortably, while Duffy reciprocated by repeating as champion of the 11-14 girls age division.

Smith's brother Marc completed a family double by winning the seven-ten boys age division just ahead of Michael Coles in second place and Alex Godfrey in third.

One of Godfrey's three brothers competing, Thomas, also achieved a third place finish in the boys 11-12 age group.

On the girl's side, Caitlyn Conyers managed a very creditable second in the 11-12 age group despite suffering from a chest infection, which left her struggling for breath.

Ricky Sousa (11) opted for the longer Super Sprint distance, also converted to a duathlon, and competing against much older boys in the under 17 age group achieved an excellent sixth place.

By Sunday the organisers had evidently decided that the sprint and Olympic distance tirathletes could handle the pollution as the swim leg was left intact.

The main challenge to participants however, was not chilly, polluted Lake Michigan but rather locating their bike amongst the approximately 5,000 in the vast transition area.

Again, Smith and Duffy were up to the challenge. The former won the boys 12-14 age group in the Sprint Distance (750m swim, 22k bike, 5k run) and the latter would have repeated as champion 12-14-year-old girl but actually placed third overall female and was awarded that prize instead.

Another one of the Godfrey brothers, this time Mathew, followed Geoffrey Smith home to take second place in the 12-14 age group whilst 15-year-old Dominique Nanette, battling against older boys, achieved a creditable second in the 15-19 age group.

Among the senior contingent, Neil de ste Croix was the top performer taking first prize in the 35-39 age group.

Amazingly, some two hours after finishing the individual event de ste Croix ran a sub-40 minute 10K anchor leg for the 'Bermuda Triangle' relay team.

The irrepressible Geoffrey Smith swam the 1500m first leg, while the Bermuda triangle effect hit team cyclist Ricky Sousa when a pedal fell off - luckily with only one kilometre of the 40k remaining.

Finally, in the Olympic Distance event (1500m swim, 40k bike, 10k run) the biggest of the weekend, Cora Lee Starzomski and Jeff Conyers overcame gradually increasing heat and humidity to both achieve personal best times.