Former champion Tyler Butterfield is the favourite to win tomorrow?s Bank of Bermuda Individual Triathlon ? despite spending almost no time in the water since he gave up the sport two years ago.

The 23-year-old, who recently signed a professional contract with an American cycling team, has spent a few mornings swimming in the ocean since returning home for a month?s holiday after a long season racing in Europe ? though it is on the bike and the run that he is expected to make his mark.

Defending champion Evan Naude as well as his brother Riaan are not competing this year because of their upcoming participation in next week?s Chicago marathon.

And Kris Hedges has decided to give the event a miss as well as he battles to get himself ready for the Caribbean Cycling Championships in the British Virgin Islands a week today.

A dark horse for the title, however, comes in the form of Swiss visitor Richard DeBrot, 42, who is in the last throes of his training for the Florida Ironman and is using Bermuda as a base for his preparations.

In the women?s event, Karen Smith is expected to lead the field, but she could be pushed hard by the likes of Julia Hawley and and Karen Bordage ? though another top female triathlete Dee McMullen will not be in the mix after crashing her bike last week at the Caribbean championships.

Butterfield, meanwhile, said he was looking forward to ?a change of scene? after two straight years on the bike.

?I?m competing just for fun really, though it will be very good cross-training as well,? he said, shortly after revealing that he has been trying to persuade his Ironman father Jim Butterfield to come out of retirement for the race.

?The Bank of Bermuda triathlon in 2004 was the last triathlon I did before deciding to concentrate on cycling, and so it will be nice to do something a little bit different.

?I haven?t done very much swimming since I gave up triathlon so I?m not sure how that?s going to go but my heart and my body are fit and strong and I intend to go hard at it.

?I?m not sure if I can win or not ? I?m not really worried about that really. If I?m not too far back after the swim then I suppose I?ve got a chance, but we?ll have to wait and see.?

There have been 70 entries this year, which is about average for the last decade but a far cry from the 100-plus that used to take part during triathlon?s heyday in the 1980s.

Bermuda Triathlon Association president Stephen Petty admitted they would have liked a few more ? adding that the growth in popularity of other sports has seen triathlon suffer somewhat.

?At our peak we used to have about 150 teams enter in the team event and about 120 in the individual event. Why our numbers have suffered has been a question that we often ask ourselves. Certainly other sports have enjoyed a significant growth ? there are more people playing golf on weekends now and there seems to be fewer people wanting to take part in the triathlon just for fun. That used to be a big part of it.

?We thought that by reducing it from a full triathlon to a sprint that we would attract more people and that has happened to a limited extent.

?On the other hand though, we have some younger guys who have graduated from college and are back in the Island taking part. People like Chris and Spencer Conway are all former Ironkids and it?s good to see them competing because it?s important to have an injection of fresh blood every once and while.?

The triathlon ? which will involve a 750-metre swim, a 20 kilometre cycle and a five kilometre run ? begins at 9.30 a.m. with the start and finish at Albouy?s Point.