TYLER Butterfield and Flora Duffy were crowned Male and Female Athletes of the Year last night in a gala ceremony at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.

Duffy was the obvious choice for Female Athlete of the Year as she had a superb year in 2006 in the triathlon.

She started the year out with a bang with an eighth place at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia and then in the summer she placed 25th out of 65 starters in the BGITU World Cup event in Sanford, England.

Then in August she won the Junior Elite London Triathlon before really turning on her style when she won the silver medal at the Junior Elite event at the World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland in early September.

Later that month Duffy, who is studying abroad in England, competed in her second BGITU World Cup event in Hamburg, Germany and placed ninth out of 72 starters. At the end of September the teenager competed at the site of the 2008 Olympic Games in the BGITU World Cup event in Beijing and placed 19th. In November she travelled to Cancun, Mexico and placed sixth out of 68 starters in that triathlon.

Duffy is expected to be one of Bermuda?s hopes for the 2008 Olympics in the triathlon.

And it was that same sport, triathlon, which started the Male Athlete of the Year off.

Tyler Butterfield competed for Bermuda in the triathlon in the 2004 Olympics in Greece. But then he decided to only do cycling ? his strongest part of the triathlon.

Butterfield rode last year for the top French amateur team Vendee U and earned a reputation for being an attacking and aggressive rider who was instrumental in his team?s success.

Like Duffy, Butterfield flew the flag for Bermuda last March at the Commonwealth Games where he competed in the road race alongside teammate Geri Mewett.

Competing against full teams from some of the major cycling powers, Butterfield finished in 11th place.

He then returned to Europe for a gruelling season and was rewarded with a number of podium finishes.

In August Butterfield rode in the prestigious Tour of Guadeloupe ? a rough 10-day event. He took the first stage in classic fashion and secured the leader?s yellow jersey which he held for three days.

In October he represented Bermuda at the Caribbean Cycling Championships in Tortolla and finished in sixth place out of more than 100 riders.

Later that month Butterfield signed with the T11-Cref ? a young pro team led by former Tour de France rider Jonathan Vaughtus. He will now be competing in Europe on the Continental Pro-Circuit.

A number of other awards were handed out last night and included Special Achievement Awards for football referee, the late Aldwin Savery; track and field administrator Brenda (Pat) Lake.

Sports Citation Awards were given to former Marathon Derby winner Calvin (Baldy) Hansey; former football player and coach Fred (Pinks) Lewis; the 1976 Olympic men?s 4X100 relay team which was comprised of Mike Sharpe, Cal Dill, Gregory Simons and Dennis Trott; cricketer Lee Raynor; the BAA club; the Original ICC World Cup cricket team.

Achievement Awards were given to equestrian Jill Terceira; middle distance runner Ashley Couper; golfer Michael Sims and squash player Nick Kyme.