Butterfield won his age group at the US Junior Triathlon Championships in Clermont, Florida, on Sunday.

Butterfield, fresh from his second-place finish at the East Coast Championships in Chicago the previous week, was full of confidence going into the 750-metre swim, 11.6-mile bike and three-mile run against the best 13-15 year-olds in the USA.

Now he's expected to take on some of the best on the Island, both junior and senior, in Sunday's Bank of Bermuda Triathlon.

Despite a poor swim caused by swallowing some dirty lake water, Butterfield recovered well on the cycle and run, to cross the line eighth overall, behind winner David Scott, who was first in Chicago the previous week.

However, Butterfield was assessed a one-minute penalty after the race for failing to move back to the right of the bike course after overtaking, dropping him to ninth. But he still finished minutes ahead of the second-placed 14-year-old competitor.

Bermudians Alison Petty and Nuri Latham also shone at both the US Junior Championships and Gooding's Sprint Triathlon, also in Clermont.

Latham, perhaps heeding the warning of alligators and snakes in the lake, was out of the water close behind the leaders and held on well to finish tenth overall and ninth in the 15-year-old category, to go along with his fifth-place finish in Chicago.

Petty found the competition tough in the much smaller girls division of 15 juniors although she managed to finish tenth overall, and was third in her age division.

The Gooding's triathlon was held in conjunction with the championships and it gave some of Bermuda's other triathletes a chance to compete against some 500 competitors over the same course (the juniors had a shorter swim.) Adam Petty, after winning his age group for the third year in a row in Chicago the week before, continued his good form with a second-place finish in the boys 8-11 age category.

Chris Conway also a winner in Chicago, finished fourth in the 12-14 boys division. Top ten finishes also went to seniors Steve Petty and Carolyn Conway and junior Mark Morrison.

It's anticipated that a number of top US juniors will travel to the Bermuda Junior National Championships on September 14, said race director Dave Morrison, co-coach of the Bermuda juniors.

Close to 100 competitors are expected to take part in this Sunday's Bank of Bermuda Triathlon.

That would be fewer than last year's ill-fated version but officials figure that's still a pretty good number considering the timing of the event. The presence of the professionals in the ITU World Cup event here in September caused the Bank of Bermuda to move their triathlon ahead a month.

This year, the triathlon was not advertised as much and "a lot of people are off the Island (in August),'' said Patrick Hackenberg, technical director of the Bermuda Triathlon Association, which is running the event in conjunction with the bank.

Deadline for entries is today at 5.00 p.m. so an official entry number will not be available until Thursday.

Last year, the triathlon was twice shortened to attract more participants, the result being around 130 entries. But back-to-back storms twice wiped out attempts to stage the event and a decision was made to cancel it altogether.

"Everything is exactly the same as last year,'' Bank of Bermuda spokesperson Karen Madeiros said yesterday.

That means a half-mile swim, 12-mile cycle and three-mile run through the streets of Hamilton, with the transition area being Albuoy's Point. Start time is 8.00 a.m.

Awards in the form of trophies and crystal mugs are being offered for the top three male and female finishers, plus age-group winners in the 13-15, 16-29, 30-39, 40-49 and 50-plus categories.

Next Sunday sees the Bank of Bermuda Team Triathlon, with three-person teams competing over a one-mile swim, 15-mile cycle and six-mile run.

TRI-CHAMP -- Bermuda's Tyler Butterfield took on and beat the best of America's 14 year-old triathletes when he won his age division at last weekend's US National Championships in Florida.