month for the Island's first major gymnastics competition.

The event is being hailed as a tourism coup by organisers. Chairman Craig Christensen said the hotel had done "an excellent job of recognising the potential of such events to benefit tourism in Bermuda''.

The association has been planning the event for almost a year and has worked with an overseas coordinator to get it off the ground.

The result is the only sanctioned US meet to ever be held outside the outside the USA, said Mr. Christensen.

"This is some serious stuff we've got coming. These are top level US gymnasts,'' he said.

US Air has come to the assistance of the organisers by offering cheap airfare for the competitors and the Southampton Princess "has bent over backward to help us,'' continued Mr. Christensen.

The Bermuda Triangle Challenge will be held in the hotel's Atlantic Rooms between February 21 and 23 with the length of competition hinged to the final number of participating gymnasts.

"At the moment the total number of local and overseas gymnasts is at the hundred mark but other gymnastic clubs are in the process of getting back to us,'' said Mr. Christensen.

"We are hopeful that we can pick up some more competitors from the west coast gyms in the US,'' he added.

There is also a possibility that Canadian and British gymnasts may join their American counterparts while Argentinian gymnasts have also expressed an interest in the competition.

And Bermuda may approach the Federation of International Gymnastics in the future with the intention of making the Bermuda Triangle Challenge an international event.

Mr. Christensen said: "In my view, it is a major coup for Bermuda to get a meet of this quality started and be able to get the hotel and airline rates at a level that would be close to being competitive with the US and, probably the most important thing is the tourism that results from the introduction of athletes of this sort.

"Gymnasts are known to be from the highest demographic profile of all sports -- hopefully they will return to Bermuda as tourists.'' Gym meet coup for tourism From Page 1 The event will also be unusual in that it will be two meets in one with both USA Independent Gymnastic Association members and members of the United States Association of Gymnasts competing together, he added.

And the meet will serve as a US qualifying meet for the US regional championships where more than 20,000 gymnasts will vie for 1,100 spots in the US Nationals.

Last year Bermuda sent seven gymnasts to the prestigious competition.

About 35 local gymnasts between the ages of seven and 16 will take part in the competition which will also feature three of the top five gymnastics clubs in the US.

These are American Twisters, Gym Strata and Hill's Angels, the latter having gained fame as US Olympic gold medalist Dominique Dawes' gym.

"What we are trying to do,'' continued Mr. Christensen, "is provide real excitement for our kids and a great experience for our overseas visitors.'' Locally, gymnastics has "come a very long way in a short period of time,'' continued Mr. Christensen.

He put this down to the dedication of coach Walid Mustafa and the dedication and commitment of the gymnasts and their parents.

The number of competitive gymnasts has risen from half a dozen, four years ago, to about 35 now.

They have been working hard under the guidance of Mustafa for the last two and a half years with four- to five-hour-long sessions, six days a week.

And in December the association secured a permanent facility which will increase the effectiveness of their training throughout the year.

Before, the gymnasts were forced to set up and take down their equipment at the start and end of training sessions which were held at Bermuda High School and Whitney.

They only had access to a proper "floor'' during vacations when it could be set up without interfering with school students.

But with the new facility on the Base lands, the floor can be set up and the athletes can train properly on the correct equipment which has already produced remarkable improvements.

COMPETITION CPN