lost a few friends in the process.

The defending champion and the Island's number one triathlete for the past several years actually finished second over the 35.75-kilometre course at Clearwater Beach. But he was awarded first place when a protest was filed and the winner, 17-year-old Kris Hedges, was penalised two minutes because of a loosely-enforced, two-week-old rule.

His crime: Accepting a glucose gell pack from his mother in the final stage of the run.

Hedges, fresh from winning the Olympic-distance Tri Gatorade Triathlon last month, and his coach, Greg Hopkins, were livid over what they called a "ridiculous'' decision by race director Dave Morrison and an ad hoc committee of Jamie Jared and Andrew Doble.

Hopkins, a former national champion who pulled out late in yesterday's race with an Achilles injury, said last night he would appeal the ruling to the Bermuda Triathlon Association.

The president of the BTA is de Ste Croix. And the rule barring "outside assistance'' during a race was prompted by de Ste Croix and only passed by the BTA executive two weeks ago.

Moreover, The Royal Gazette understands it was de Ste Croix who filed the complaint against Hedges shortly after the race. De Ste Croix did not return a phone message yesterday and Morrison would not say where the protest came from.

Hedges could not hide his bitterness, calling de Ste Croix's move "low'' and questioning his own future in the sport. "The way I feel I may not do another triathlon,'' he said.

Hopkins said de Ste Croix's victory was "hollow.'' "Neil has enjoyed a lot of success over the years as Kris and others have developed,'' he said. "I just wish he would have been as gracious in defeat as he was when he has winning.'' Before the penalty, Hedges had completed the 750-metre swim, 30-kilometre bike and 5K run in 64 minutes and 28 seconds, building up a huge lead before a hard-charging de Ste Croix closed to 16 seconds at the finish line. Another youngster, 14-year-old Tyler Butterfield was third in 65:22, followed by Dave Cash in 65:38 and Nuri Latham in 66:21.

But after being docked two minutes, Hedges was pushed back to fifth spot, with the others each moving up one place. Julia Hawley was the top female, finishing 13th overall in 71:17.

Hopkins felt competitors should have been given greater warning -- either on the entry form, through a BTA newsletter or verbally before the race -- that they were no longer allowed to receive water or similar assistance along the course.

"At no time in the past 14 years has anyone in Bermuda ever been pulled back for accepting a bottle of water from someone,'' he said. The definition of "outside assistance,'' he argued, is subjective and traditionally has been interpreted only to mean, for instance, receiving help changing a flat tyre.

"I'm not saying the rule is incorrect,'' said Hopkins. "I'm saying that if they were to be stringently enforced, competitors should have been informed a lot earlier than this.'' Hedges also didn't dispute that, technically, what he did was wrong. But, he said: "There are a lot of infractions I've seen and nothing's happened.'' Morrison conceded that in "hindsight'' it would have been ideal to give all triathletes greater warning. But the rule, he said, was "standard'' throughout the world and was adopted so that Bermuda conformed to the governing body -- a platform of de Ste Croix's in his bid for the BTA presidency.

"(The rule) is well known. It's not new,'' said Morrison, adding it was also spelled out in the race package, which competitors were urged to read, just as they would a course map. "The rules were supplied to the athletes so it's reasonable to assume the athletes would follow them.'' The minimum penalty is two minutes, he said.

No outside assistance also applies to race officials, who Morrison admitted, also were not fully briefed. He acknowledged that he had periodically seen infractions such as Hedges' but "I wouldn't say it's a common thing in races.''