Riaan Naude made it two in a row yesterday as he added the season-opening Pirate's Port Triathlon title to his win in the National Duathlon Championships, while Dee McMullen put in an impressive performance to take the women's title.

Youngster Geoffrey Smith and National Triathlon Champion Karen Smith, meanwhile, were the winners in the shorter sprint distance event.

In the Olympic distance race, Naude clocked two hours, 17 minutes and 16 seconds, followed by Jamie Brown (2:18.03), Norbert Meyer (2:18.26) and Jamie Pedro (2.20.52).

The whole of the field appeared to be out of contention after the 1500 metre swim as Pedro opened up a five-minute lead over Brown, who was second out of the water, and almost seven minutes on Naude.

Pedro knew that he would need a good lead going into the run but lost his chain three times on the 40 kilometre bike allowing Naude, Brown and the fast charging Meyer to make up valuable time.

By the transition from bike to run, Pedro's lead was down to three minutes and 50 seconds. He also had to contend with the fact that Naude, Meyer and Brown left transition at the same time and worked together early on in the 10K run to close the gap on the leader.

Naude picked up the pace towards the end of the first of four run laps and opened up about a 50 metre gap on Brown and Meyer.

Meanwhile, Pedro's lead was shrinking quickly and at the end of lap three Naude passed him. Brown and Meyer also caught Pedro as he struggled on the run. With a mile to go, Brown surged to take second with Meyer third and Pedro fourth, but there was little to choose between the top four.

In a small field, Dee McMullen (2:25.48) was never seriously challenged but on a tough course her time was encouraging as she continued her preparation for the Island Games in Guernsey in June.

Sister Kim came home second after trailing on the swim, but a much improved bike and a fine run suggested that in time she will also be challenging for overall honours.

In the sprint, Geoffrey Smith (1:06.56) and Jason Krupp (1:07.47) emerged from the 750 metre swim within seconds of each other.

Krupp had been expected to get away from Smith on the 20K bike but when passed, Smith did well to keep Krupp within 20 metres and it was he who left the transition area first.

Smith gradually pulled away from Krupp on the 5K run to take his first senior title.

Another top youngster, Khamari Greaves, took third.

It was a good day for the young triathletes as Dominique Nannette (fifth) , Coyatito Smith (eighth) and Flora Duffy (second female overall) all enjoyed excellent races.

Karen Smith, continuing her recovery from injury, was a clear winner on the women's side, finishing in 1:09.57.

Despite trailing Duffy after the swim her strong swim and run easily gave her the title and fourth overall.

In a well contested team event over the sprint distance Cora Lee Starzomski, Sue Edney and Evan Naude were convincing winners.

Meanwhile, in perfect conditions a strong field of youngsters of all ages and abilities lined up at the start of Saturday's Pirates' Port Junior Triathlon at Southside over varying distances. Ages 12 to 15 raced over a 400m swim , 15K bike and 5K run.

Matthew Godfrey continued to improve and his strong swim proved to be the telling factor as he was the first finisher over this distance, taking the boys 14 to 15 title from Erek Fox. Caitlin Conyers dominated the girls' field to take the 12 to 13 title from Amy Fox and Therisia Hinton.

As expected the closest race was in the boys 12 to 13 age group. In the end it was Geoffrey Burns who emerged a narrow winner, thanks to a strong bike and a solid run, as he held off a fast charging Thomas Godfrey to take top honours. Tim Fox held on well for third, despite a disappointing bike by his standards, coming in ahead of Justin Collis and Alex McManus.

One of the most impressive performances was in the boys' eight and nine age group over the shorter 100 metre swim, 5K bike and 1K run.

David Lunn trailed Kenny Thompson by a few seconds after the swim but produced a fast bike and run to win by a margin of close to two minutes from Thompson with Nathan Amaral a surprising third. Dorian Armstrong was equally impressive, winning the boys' ten to 11 age group over a 200 metre swim, 10K bike and 2K run by over a minute from Marc Smith.

Tyree Armstrong was rewarded for his hard work this season as he captured third place in this age group for his first ever podium finish.

Kaitlin Miller, who had an outstanding season last year, finished third overall in the 10 to 11 age group to easily take the girls' title from Rebecca Sharpe and Chelsea Lines. Jazmine Outerbridge was the girls' eight to nine winner from Naomi Vides.

The older juniors were preceded by the new six to seven age group over a shorter 50m swim, 2.5K bike and .5K run. Mark Godfrey and Clementine Keys were the boys and girls' winners respectively in a well supported age group.