ARON Evans will be looking to bounce back from missing out on a Carifta Games medal in the most agonising way when he flies out to Trinidad next week with the Bermuda CAC Junior Championships team.

Sixteen-year-old Evans appeared certain to win a medal until he stumbled five metres from the finishing line in the final of the Carifta 800 metres in Guadeloupe in April.

The teenager believes he has made huge strides forward in training in the past three months and he is capable of exorcising the Carifta demons with a personal record in Trinidad.

Evans took a break from training at the National Sports Centre this week to recount the events of the Carifta Games.

"In the first 400 metres I was positioning myself well for my final push and going into the last 200, I was in second place," said Evans, a former Warwick Academy student who will start studying at Cushing Academy in Boston in September.

"A guy from Jamaica and me broke away in the last 100 and a guy from Antigua joined us. About five metres from the line, I leaned forward, anticipating the line, and fell over."

The mishap meant Evans missed out on at least a bronze medal and what would have been an impressive time inside one minute, 55 seconds. Instead, his tumble consigned him to last place in a time of 2:07, nearly seven seconds behind the second-to-last finisher.

Rather than dwell on what might have been, the youngster has buckled down to some hard training to raise his level in preparation for stiff competition at the CACs.

"Since then, I've run the fastest 600 metres of my life ? 1:22 ? and I think my chances of qualifying for the finals and running a personal best are good," he added.

One of the coaches working with the 11-strong team to compete in the under-17 and under-20 events in Port-of-Spain is Devon Bean. Evans is one of four athletes tipped by Binns to have a real medal chance at the CAC Juniors. "The opposition will be a little stiffer than in the Cariftas, with countries like Cuba, Venezuela and Guatemala taking part," said Binns. "But the shape our team is in now, I would say that we could win anywhere between one and five medals."

Apart from Evans in the 800 metres, Matthew Spring had the ability to do well in the 3000 metres, Bean said. In the under-20s, high jumper and triple jumper LaTroya Darrell could also medal, as she aims to qualify for the World Junior Championships in Beijing, and world junior champion long jumper Arantxa King should also do well.

Bean also suggested that sprinter Trey Houston, who narrowly missed out on making the finals of both the 100 and 200 metres at the Cariftas, could well make the CAC finals, and anything more than that would be a bonus.

Bean, who holds the national 100 metres record of 10.27 seconds, has been supervising Houston through some high-intensity training, including sharpening up the youngster's starting technique.

Several of the young team have the talent to become Bermuda Olympians, according to Bean, who himself competed in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. He cited Evans, Spring, Darrell and King, as well as high jumper/triple jumper Alison Outerbridge and long jumper/triple jumper Jasmine Brunson.

"As I'm always telling them, natural talent only takes you so far," Bean said. "You have to nurture it if you want to be an Olympian. It requires a lot of discipline and a balanced life.

"There are some things you can get away with locally, because of the lack of competition. But you realise when you get outside of Bermuda you can't run as fast or throw as far as others. To compete, you have to train hard, in the gym as well as on the track, keep away from bad foods like candy and soda and get lots of rest.

"If they don't do the training they're supposed to do, then it all comes out in the wash.

"This team is pretty dedicated. Sometimes we have to bring out the wooden spoon and remind them that they are only as good as their last race. They are at an age where they are starting to be interested in boys and girls and going out, but I tell them the boys and girls will always be there and the chance to be a great athlete is now.

"And for the most part, they have good backing from parents at home and teachers at school."

Bermuda Track & Field Association national team coach Gerry Swan will travel with the team to Trinidad, together with assistant coach Sonya Showers. The party will fly out on July 11 for the Games, which run from July 14 through 16.

In addition, an under-23 team, comprised of high jumper Deon Brangman and long jumper Tyrone Smith will compete in the NACAC Games in Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, this weekend. Their coach is Roger Dill, well known as a cricket umpire.