Tyler Butterfield and Deana McMullen may have grabbed the local triathlon headlines on Sunday by winning the overall men's and women's titles at the Shell Gold Cup Triathlon.

But on the same day a group of Bermudian triathletes were completing the prestigious Gulf Coast Triathlon in Panama City, Florida, USA which attracted more than 1,800 athletes from 36 US states and 15 countries. The difference however was that while the Bermuda race was over 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run, those overseas had to complete a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run.

Leading the Bermuda contingent home was veteran Jeff Conyers who has made a comeback to the sport in the past three years.

Conyers finished 17th in the 45-49 age group and 449th overall in a time of 5hrs 40 mins and 13 secs. Also taking a top 20 finish in her age group was Karen Madeiros whose overall time of 5:53:55 was good enough for 20th in the women's 35-39 age group and 636th overall.

Relative newcomers to the sport Andre Patkos (5:47:06) and Greg Wojciechowski (5:43:20) finished 91st and 97th respectively in their age groups.

Graham Fowle who competed in the event last year was 121st in his age group and 982nd overall in 6:18:20.

Darren Maksymetz, who suffered a bad bike crash in Bermuda just two months before the race and had not completely recovered from that accident, started well in his bid to break the five hour 30 minute barrier then struggled badly on the run due to the effects of his mishap.

However, he showed great determination by completing the course in 6:39:47 to finish 119th in his age group and 1213 overall.

Florida-based professional triathlete Alec Rukosuev, with whom Bermudian Kent Richardson trains, finished second in the professional men's division.

Rukosuev finished just behind the aforementioned Butterfield in the recent World Cup Triathlon in St. Petersburg, Florida.