Kent Richardson broke his own personal best for the second time this year in a qualifying event for the Triathlon World Championships at the weekend.

The water-skiing instructor went under 2:10 again in the event, which served as an age group qualifier for the Canadian national team and gained competitors ITU points towards making the Olympics.

Richardson, participating in the 40-44 age group in Leamington, four hours west of Toronto, completed the 1.5K swim, 40K bike ride and 10K run in two hours, six minutes and 19 seconds to finish sixth in his age group. At the St Anthony's Triathlon in Florida two weeks ago, Richardson had broken the 2:10 barrier for the first time, clocking 2:07.50.

"I did awesome,'' said a delighted Richardson yesterday with jocular immodesty. " I went there thinking I'd got the feel of breaking the 2:10 mark and knocked another big chunk off my time.'' Richardson came out of the water in 26:40 but claimed that the course was actually longer than the stated 1.5K.

"The swim was long, but it was long for everybody,'' he said. "In the professional field you normally find those guys doing 17 or 18 minutes but they were doing 20 or 21.

"It was an indication that the course was not exact. I could do the math.'' However, Richardson really stepped things up on the bike and run, despite the conditions taking a turn for the worse.

"I had a really rocking bike ride,'' added Richardson, as he scooted home in 1:01.40, before changing for his best run in 37:35.

"It was a simple out and back ride but it was raining and there were cross-winds. Mother Nature was not kind to us and was coming at us the whole time, but to rip such a good score in adverse conditions was really good.

"And on the run I was feeling so good.'' So what does Richardson put his improvement down to? "I'm just starting to find that all the disciplines are coming together,'' responded the triathlete, who will represent Bermuda at the World Championships in Montreal later in the year.

"I'm still fairly new to the sport -- this is only my fourth year -- and I'm slowly beginning to understand it. You're going to have your highs and lows but I'm always looking to push the enevelope.'' Another local competing in the event was Steve Petty who was fifth in the 45-49 age group in a time of 2:23.25 -- a disappointment as he was aiming to get inside 2:20 which would have given him an A qualification for the World Championships. He already has a B qualification.

Tyler Butterfield was due to compete in the Junior Nationals (16-19 years) at the same event but is still recovering from mononucleosis.

Meanwhile Jonathan Herring has been competing in an expenses paid Solidarity Youth Camp held by the International Triathlon Union in Hawaii. An ITU race was taking place at the same time in Kona and the juniors were allowed to participate with the professionals. Greg Welch won the event as Herring, after a swim of just over 19 minutes, got lapped on the bike and had to pull out.