Some of the world's leading professional triathletes and a host of overseas amateur athletes will again once invade the Island for this year's edition of the Escape to Bermuda Triathlon on Sunday, November 2.

The race consists of a 1500 metre swim, starting from a Government ferry in Dockyard, a 40 kilometre bike ride across from East to West and a two-loop 10 kilometre run around St. George's, finishing in the Town Square.

Leading the way among the professional male triathletes will be Australian Chris McCormack, the 2007 Hawaii Ironman champion and perhaps the highest profile triathlete in the world.

Macca, as he is known in the triathlon community, took the triathlon world by storm when in 1996 as a virtual unknown, he won both the World Championships and the World Cup Points Series over the same distances as the Bermuda Triathlon.

Since then he has become a legend in the sport, having moved up to the much longer Ironman distance events, in which he has won 11 titles including his victory in the famous Hawaii Ironman, a title he defends this weekend.

In the women's field will be American Becky Lavelle who returns to defend her title.

Lavelle had an emphatic win in Bermuda in 2007 on the strength of a strong bike leg.

This year she has already won one of the leading races in the USA, the Los Angeles Triathlon, and will start this year's event as a slight favourite in a strong women's field.

Married to fellow professional triathlete Brian Lavelle who will be competing in Bermuda, Becky was the 2005 US National Champion and accompanied the US team to the Beijing Olympics as the alternate for the women's team.

Although McCormack and Lavelle will start as favourites, they will face strong challenges from an impressive list of athletes.

Among the men will be the USA's Jarrod Shoemaker, 18th in the Bejing Olympics, just two minutes behind the winner, and four of last year's top five finishers – although last year's winner Andy Potts will be missing.

Shoemaker's strength is his strong run. He won the competitive Carlsbad 5000 metres run this year, and if he can stay in touch after the bike leg he will be in his element on the hilly St. Georges' course.

New Zealand's Matt (Boom Boom) Reed, third last year and now competing as a US citizen, has had an excellent season, the highlights of which included winning the US National Championships and qualifying for the Olympics, and a fifth place finish in the Triathlon World Championships as well as a series of wins in prestigious US races.

The dark horse could well be the USA's David Thompson who is an outstanding cyclist and runner and the hilly bike and run course will suit him. He finished fourth in the Escape from Alcatraz and won the Philadelphia Triathlon.

However, Thompson's late season has been hampered by injury and he may lack the fitness coming into the race.

In the women's event, the USA's Sarah Groff and Mary Beth Ellis, England's Andrea Whitcombe and Jodie Swallow and last year's runner-up, the USA's Rebecca Wassner, would appear to be the likely challengers to Lavelle and at press time there was still a strong possibility that England's Chrissie Wellington might be at the start line.

Wellington stormed onto the triathlon scene in 2007 when winning the Hawaii Ironman as a virtual unknown. She is a strong favourite going into this weekend's Hawaii race.

Whitcombe, ranked eighth in the world and Sarah Groff, ranked sixth in the world, will provide a formidable challenge to Lavelle.

Groff is the up and coming US superstar. In only her first season as a professional she finished seventh at the World Championships and third in the US Olympic Trials.

For full details of the triathlon weekend and the race course can be obtained on the website, www.escapetobermudatriathlon.com.