Three-time Bermuda triathlete of the year Greg Hopkins has decided to take a brief hiatus from the sport and will not compete in any events this year.

Hopkins made his decision official yesterday after wrestling with the idea of taking a one year break several times during the past few months.

Currently defending champion of the National Triathlon Championships and triathlete of the year in 1990, 1991 and 1992, Hopkins felt the timing was perfect after almost a decade of often intense training.

"I decided a little while ago that I wasn't going to compete this year,'' said Hopkins following a two-hour cycle ride yesterday. "It's not a matter of retiring or quitting, it's just that I don't want to compete this year. This has been nine years in a row, getting up at five o'clock every morning to ride, and running at lunch-time and then in the pool until eight o'clock every night.

"It's not that I don't have the physical ability to do it, because I know that I do. It's just that I feel that I need a break for a season, just this season. You know, get back into it next year.'' Hopkins, 40, had made significant inroads in the local running scene this year and was expected to be one of the main contenders for the Masters title in the May 24 Marathon Derby. That was until he suffered an injury to his right calf following the Pure Water 10K race last month.

"I came third behind Brett (Forgesson) and Kevin Tucker and Brett and I were going for warm-down and after about half a mile my calf just locked up.'' The injury was a contributing factor in his decision to leave the triathlon scene, especially since he had been working so hard in preparing for May 24.

The pain of not being able to compete, however, was even more severe.

"I turned Masters last December and I was really keen on May 24 this year,'' he said. "That sort of brought it to a head, I think. I sort of sacrificed the preparation for the duathlon (June 12) for preparing for May 24. So really it's just a combination of things, but it's something that I've been thinking of for a little while now.

"I'm still keen, but I don't want to get to the point where I just sort of run myself out of enthusiasm for the whole thing, to the point where I don't want to be doing it. I'd rather take a year off and then next year I know that I'll be a lot more enthusiastic.'' While watching Forgesson, his coach, capture last week's Marathon Derby was extremely satisfying, it proved just how unsuited he was to watching an event from the sidelines.

"I probably went through a low patch the last week,'' admitted Hopkins. "I do all my running and training with Brett and I got caught up in all the excitement for him and then being able to commentate on his race, I mean, I sort of lived my race through him. It was fantastic, but then for two or three days afterwards it was like a bomb had dropped almost. I'd put in 18, 19 mile runs with Brett, which I hadn't done for years. The fact the he won and the way that he won, well, I got a lot of enjoyment out of that. But it didn't detract from a certain amount of disappointment later.'' This year will mark the first time Hopkins has taken a respite from triathlons since the event became popular, but he still plans to participate in several cycling events later this year. Besides winning the Bermuda triathlon four times (1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992) Hopkins was also first amateur overall in the Bermuda Duathlon championships in 1991 and 1992. The records he established in the 1989 triathlon and 1991 duathlon still stand.

Hopkins has won his age group in several overseas competitions, including the US Championship Series and Canadian National Championship (1988), the Italian Championships (1989) and most recently the Quebec Triathlon in Gatineau in 1993.

"To compete at the level I was competing at, I was doing a lot of international races as well, it was a complete lifestyle,'' said Hopkins, who became a father for the first time earlier this year. "And I'm the sort of person that if I'm competing I have to compete at my absolute best ability and that requires a lot of time.

"That's really why I'm making this decision,'' he continued. "It's (all or nothing) because that's the way I've always been. People say `why don't you do it for fun?' But I couldn't just do it just to finish. I know that I'm only 40 and I've got a lot of good years left and I know there's a lot of races that I can still win, so I'm not going to take a year doing the events just for the sake of just finishing.'' GREG HOPKINS -- `It's not a matter of retiring or quitting...I just need to take a break.