Clearwater Beach in St. David?s will be the venue tomorrow morning for one of the most popular events on the triathlon calendar, the Shell Gold Cup, which this year will also feature a duathlon ( run/bike/run) category.

With Evan Naude off the Island and Kris Hedges unlikely to start, defending champion Riaan Naude will set off as as a firm favourite to retain his men?s overall title and the 20-39 age group over the 750 metre swim, 20 kilometre bike and five kilometre run course.

Veteran Kent Richardson, 17-year-old Matthew Godfrey and the experienced Norbert Meyer are the likely contenders for podium finishes with Mike Blagden and Nick Strong looking to upstage them.

Adding interest to the men?s event will be two visiting young triathletes from Canada, Brandon Parker, 21, and Brent Keen, 14 ? members of a group of juniors being hosted by the TRex Triathletes. Both will be hoping for a top ten finish.

Keen should have a close race for the 13-15 age group title with local juniors Thomas Godfrey and Mark Smith.

With Karen Smith still recovering from her accident at the Triathlon World Championships in Hawaii, the women?s race is wide open with Dee McMullen and Karen Bordage closely matched for overall honours.

However, Lynn Patchett may well make a rare appearance in a triathlon but will have a lot to do after the swim to close the gap on McMullen and Bordage if she is to have a realistic chance of finishing in front.

Bordage is fresh off a sub three-hour marathon performance whilst Patchett took gold and silver at the recent Caribbean Cycling Championships in Aruba.

Joanna Shillingdon should also be in the reckoning for a podium finish.

A large field is expected for the junior race which will precede the senior event.

In the 13-15 advanced distance race over 300 metres, 15K and 3K, the sole entries at press time were the much improved Martina Edney, who will be moving up an age group to compete over these distances, and Ashley Fox, in what should be an interesting match-up.

The boys? 13-14 age group over 200 metres, 10K and 2K should see a close race between Alex Godfrey and Reid Henderson with Carys Pinches likely to top the girls? 13-14 division.

In the absence of David Lunn, Brighton Swan will most likely take first place in the boys? 11-12 age group whilst Rebecca Heyliger should be an easy winner in the girls? 11-12

The boys? 7- 8 age group should see a close race between Justin Ferreira and Tadhg O?Shaughnessy with Kai Peters also expected to do well. Gabriella Arnold will be a strong favourite in the girls? 7-8 division with Nicole Amaral and Somer Froud also strong contenders for a top three placing.

Jazmine Outerbridge ( 9-10 girls) is expected to take top honours with her main competition coming from Annabella Doyle, Molly Pilgrim, Olivia Lunn and Canadian visitor Chantelle Montreuil who finished second behind Lunn in the 8-9 age group at the Ontario Provincial Triathlon Championships in July.

The boys? 9 to 10 group will most likely come down to a close finish between Nathan Amaral, Mark Godfrey and the improving Lorenzo Sequeiros with Tadhg O?Shaughnessy and Kai Peters also in contention.

Also in this age group will be Canadian visitor Michael Grenon, fifth in the Ontario Provincial Championships.

In addition to the individual events there are both senior and junior team categories and a Tri-a-Triathlon event for beginners.

Sports Minister Dale Butler will be on hand to present prizes.

Late entries can be handed in to Sportseller between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. today. Racing gets underway at 8.15 a.m. tomorrow with the juniors followed by the seniors at 9.30.