as Bermudians went up against the best in Saturday's Triathlon World Championships in Montreal.

The 16-year-old Herring had enjoyed an excellent 1500 metre swim which he completed in 21:10 but was lapped by the lead pack on the bike in the 16-19 junior elite race and unable to finish.

Elsewhere there were good performances overall for Bermuda's age group competitors.

Herring had been entered in the elite field and Bermuda Triathlon Association technical director Dave Morrison admitted in retrospect that he might have been better competing in the 16-19 age group event, although the times in that were almost as impressive, he said.

Neil de ste Croix, competing in the men's 30-34 category, was the fastest Bermuda finisher in two hours, ten minutes and 49 seconds. Despite a relatively slow swim in 26.24, De ste Croix made up time on the 40K bike ride which he completed in 1:04.24 and consolidated with a quick run of 39.33 to place 59th out of 82.

Karen Smith, despite little experience over this distance, showed her potential with the best women's finish among Bermuda's entrants. She had an overall time of 2:19.02 to finish 32nd out of 49 in the 30-34 women's category.

As expected, Kent Richardson finished in the top half of his group, taking 30th place out of 66 in the men's 40-44 with a time of 2:12.02. Bermuda's only other male competitor, Oliver Martin, clocked 2:19.46 for 63rd place out of 73 in the men's 35-39 group.

There was not a lot to choose between the Island's female competitiors as Smith was followed by Laurie Orchard in 2:20.47 and Julia Hawley in 2:23.07.

Orchard's time was good enough to place her 39th out of 57 in the women's 25-29 group, while Hawley finished 27th out of 50 among the 35-39-year-olds.

Carolyn Conway and Lea Butterfield finished in 2:44.50 and 2:37.33 respectively. Conway's time was enough to secure her 38th place out of 46 in the 40-44 category while Butterfield finished 46th out of 50 in the 35-39 division.