Tyler Butterfield took on the cream of East Coast America's young triathletes on Saturday -- and left them trailing in his wake.

Butterfield, 16, competing over the Olympic distance for the first time, showed his ability to be unperturbed by a step up in quality to win the elite junior division of the US East Coast Regional qualifiers in Clermont, Florida.

The Island's top triathlete was taking on 26 other competitors aged 16-19, most of them bidding to make the US national team for the World Championships.

And despite coming out of the water from his traditionally weakest discipline in only 12th place, he made up enough ground on the bike and run to finish three seconds ahead of nearest rival, 19-year-old Brian Rother of St Peters, Missouri, in a total time of 1:57.16.

Butterfield, back at home after the event, said: "I was really pleased. I came up a bit short on the swim and the other guy was about three minutes ahead of me. But I got into a pack of about three or four which then became eight on the cycle ride and made up some ground.

"Then on the run I took it within myself at first as I had never done this distance before.'' However, he was still too quick for the others, claiming first place in the 10K run with a time of 35:32 and beating off Rother's challenge for first place overall.

Bermuda Triathlon Association president Neil de St Croix said: "It was a very good performance, excellent in fact and really what he needs to do. It will boost his confidence a great deal.'' Rother, first in the 1500 metre swim, had come out of the water in 12:56 compared with Butterfield's 15:43. The young Bermudian completed the 40K bike ride in 1:04.37, making up 32 seconds on the American but it was during the run that he came came into his own, making up over two minutes on Rother to clinch the event.

"It was a really excellent time for the run,'' added de St Croix. Butterfield next takes on the challenge of the Junior Nationals in Canada at the end of the month, but will be putting in plenty of training in the water.

"I've still got to do a lot of work on that,'' admitted Butterfield, who finished 16th overall in a field of 560 male competitors.

The overall winner was 21-year-old Paul Fritzche in a time of 1:53.06.

Tyler Butterfield: victory in his first race over the Olympic triathlon distance.