A number of Bermuda's senior triathletes and duathletes will be competing this weekend at the Magog Triathlon and Duathlon in Quebec, Canada.

The seniors will be accompanying a larger group of Bermuda's juniors travelling to Magog for the 16-19 Junior Canadian National Triathlon Championships and the Eastern Canadian Triathlon Championships for younger competitors.

Of the adults competing in Magog much is expected from Karen Smith, Lynn Patchett and Ricky Sousa. Patchett and Sousa will be racing in the duathlon event (run-bike-run). This event is the qualifier for the Canadian team to the World Duathlon Championships in Switzerland in late August, an event at which both Patchett and Sousa will be representing Bermuda.

Sousa was 16th in his age group at the US South East Regional Duathlon Championships in March and could have been sixth but inadvertently incurred bike time penalties. He then produced an outstanding performance in the US National Duathlon Championships in June to take third in the 40-44 age group. With a hilly bike course in Magog to his liking he should do equally well in Canada.

Patchett has been a revelation this season in both duathlon and cycling events.

She won her age group at the US South East Regional Duathlon Championships by four minutes with a time that would have placed her seventh amongst the professional women competing.

After her cycling gold and silver medal performances at the Island Games in Guernsey just a few weeks ago her confidence will be high going into this event.

Karen Smith, after struggling with injury for a good part of the season, showed she is well on the road to recovery when she finished first woman and 18th overall in the prestigious Peterborough Triathlon in Canada on July 6.

Her time of one hour and five minutes was outstanding for the 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run. Smith will be competing over the longer distance 1500m, 40km, 10km and will be up against some good competition in Magog , including top elite woman Samantha McGlone.

Tri Hedz coach and former Bermuda National Triathlon Champion Neil de ste Croix should place well in the Sprint Event over 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run, while Ian Fox will be looking for a top three finish in the 50-plus age group.

In the Olympic distance race, over 1,500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run, Jeff Conyers (50-54) and Jim Hinton ( 40-44) are expected to do well in their age group.

Also competing in the sprint distance event will be parents Jeff Amaral, Nigel Godfrey, Ian Coles, Martin Bolton. Junior runner Mark Morrison will compete in the Super Sprint event.

The party, which, including juniors, numbers some 70 persons will leave on Thursday.