upstage favourite Tyler Butterfield in the sprint traithlon on Saturday at Clearwater Beach.

Herring, a stronger swimmer than Butterfield, held a one minute lead over his rival at the end of the 75 metre swim which he completed in 10:51 compared to Butterfield's time of 11:53.

And he was leading his Saltus schoolmate by 50 seconds when he took a wrong turn on the bike which enabled Butterfield to wipe out that lead and eventually win by two minutes and 19 seconds.

By the time Herring decided to backtrack, Butterfield had joined him and the edge for top honours was now being held by Butterfield who eventually had faster splits than Herring in both the bike and run.

"I took a wrong turn, I knew in my head I had to go up around the water catchment and was in my zone going along and I did what we've been doing for years and turned up by the tennis courts,'' explained Herring.

"I realised I did it wrong and came back down onto the course and met Tyler and then we both went up to the water catchment and found there was a gate closed.'' Butterfield admitted Herring would have been in a good position to win the race had the mishap not occurred.

"Once Jonathan made the mistake and I caught him up, the minute he lost the lead was disappointing for him,'' said Butterfield.

"If he didn't have that happen he would have had a really great race and probably would have won it.

"He had a minute and he's cycling stronger than me, but once I made up that minute and pushed in front of him he got discouraged and then on the run he just ran easy.

"When something like that happens it's pretty hard to concentrate. We both weren't really listening when they were telling us the directions at the beginning and the only reason I didn't make the same mistake was because I saw him coming down. Then we both went the right way and the gate was closed.'' Butterfield said he welcomed the challenge he was getting from Herring.

"If he wasn't here I know my swim wouldn't be as fast as it is now,'' said the winner.

"This year when we both go away we'll show a lot better than we did last year.'' And there are other top youngsters on the horizon, too, as four of the top six places were held by competitors 16 and under. Butterfield completed the 750 metre swim, reduced 15K (from 20K) ride and 5K run in exactly one hour with Herring second in 1:02.19.

Fourteen-year-olds Nick Taylor, the junior triathlon champion in 1998, and Chris Conway showed how their dedicated training has paid off by finishing in the top six. Taylor finished third in 1:04.49 and Conway sixth in 1:06.50, nine seconds behind fifth place finisher Martin Oliver.

Jim Butterfield, Tyler's dad, was fourth overall in 1:05.09 to take the over-40 title.

Laurie Orchard, the 1998 Bermuda triathlon champion, dominated the women's field to take the overall title. She finished 15th overall in 1:09.25 while Karen Hackenberg continued her return to form with an excellent second place among the women and first in the 30-39 age group.

Kim Mason recovered well from a flat tyre to win the 40-49 title by just six seconds over Robyn Peck.

The threat from the New York University Triathlon Club never materialsed although there were some good performances from Jamie Alford who finished second in the women's 13-29 age group and Ann Snoeyenbos who was third in the women's 30-39 age group. Tom Pennell was the first male visitor in 1:09.09, good enough for 14th overall.