Teenager Jonathan Herring has been put through his paces with fine young athletes from all over the world at a triathlon camp in Hawaii.

The 16-year-old, who has proved himself in the swim, cycle and run combination sport with some solid performances this season, returned this week full of new ideas on how to get even more out of himself.

The camp, set up by the International Olympic Committee and the International Triathlon Union, is held in a different location every year.

Herring, whose trip was paid for by the Bermuda Triathlon Association, joined a batch of young athletes aged between 15 and 23 and spent the 10-day training stint in a boarding school in the mountains, 2,500 feet above sea level.

Daytime temperatures were around 70 degrees, some 20 degrees cooler than 10 miles away at the foot of the mountain, close to the beach where the Iron Man triathlon event is traditonally staged.

The biggest impression on Herring was made by Australian national coach Rob Cedaro. "He was just amazing,'' said Herring. "Australia is the hub of the triathlon world and they have some really good ideas on training.'' Herring and the other youngsters were taken for a drive along the course of the Iron Man event -- but he found it uninspiring.

"I guess I might do the Iron Man one day, maybe in about 10 years, but it's just lava for miles, no landmarks or anything to encourage you,'' said Herring.

"It's like hundreds of miles of Kindley Field, a very long and mentally tough course. And the heat radiating off the lava was just amazing. I think I'd prefer to do an Iron Man in Germany or somewhere a bit cooler.'' And Herring got a taste of just how tough it was when he joined a field of professional triathletes in a World Cup event.

"They kicked me off because I got lapped,'' he said. "I come from a swimming background so I thought I might do OK at first, but those guys were amazing in the water. I had no chance.'' Herring started the season in sparkling form and was neck-and-neck with his 16-year-old friend and rival Tyler Butterfield, but he admitted his form had dipped since then.

"I started off really well, but whatever I do, I can't seem to get my heart rate up now. That's what can happen when you overtrain. I need more rest and I have to do more recovery work.'' The pair have just been enrolled in the newly created Exceptional Athlete Programme, run by the BTA and designed to reward the Island's young triathletes with financial backing in exchange for hard training, high standards and representation of Bermuda in international competition.

Butterfield's chances of joining Herring in Hawaii were scuppered by a bout of mononucleosis which has stopped him from training for the past month and could keep him out of the World Championships in Montreal in September. Herring will go to Montreal and he was looking forward to a reunion there with some of the friends he made in Hawaii.

Time is on the side of both Herring and Butterfield, as they are at the bottom end of the scale in their competitive age group, for 16 to 19-year-olds.

Butterfield has already won national US events, but modestly played down the revelance of that.

"People think that America should be a strong triathlon country because it is so big, but the sport is much stronger in Australia and Europe,'' said Butterfield.

Triathlon will make its debut as an Olympic sport in Sydney next year and both felt they would like a crack at getting to the 2004 Games.

But they were not making any concrete plans.

Herring said: "I'd just like to make it to the top level of the sport, go to college and maybe train a bit less, and then train more again after college.

"If the enthusiasm in triathlon lasts until after the Olympics, then maybe sponsors will come in and make it a bigger sport than it is now.'' Butterfield, who is toying with the idea of spending a year of intensive training in Australia before college, said: "I've never had a big goal of getting to the Olympics, but I guess it would be a cool and fun thing to do -- maybe in 2004.''