first Bank of Butterfield Duathlon yesterday.

However it was Lynn Kynoch who stole the show with a record-shattering performance at the US Naval Air Station in St. David's.

The lithe, but powerful female runner/cyclist was in an unforgiving mood, scorching over the 40-kilometre distance -- 5-K run, 30-K cycle, 5-K run -- in one hour, 33 minutes and 44 seconds. Her time was almost four minutes better than the previous mark of 1:37:15 set by Julia Hawley back in 1991.

"I'm really pleased about the effort, as I've just come off the running season and this was my first time getting back on the bike,'' said Kynoch, savouring her triumph. "As for the record, today we had ideal conditions and couldn't hope for anything better.

"The women's competition is really coming along this year and there is a lot to be said about Julia Hawley and Claire Sousa ... things are definitely looking up.'' Hawley though, had problems with her cycle, emphasised when she slammed it to the ground in disgust after withdrawing from the competition.

This allowed Sousa to ease into the second spot, over six minutes behind Kynoch in 1:40:15, with Dawn Robinson (1:49:34) rounding out the top three.

Meanwhile, two-time defending men's champion Hopkins had his reign ended when mechanical failure similarly forced his withdrawal after just one lap in the cycle phase, at a time when he and de Ste. Croix were hooked up in a heated battle for the lead.

Hopkins explained that his wheels had been knocked out of alignment by pot-holes, which littered the course and caused problems for several riders.

"I whacked a pot-hole on the first lap and it pushed the wheel over and then Neil and I nearly went off the course and it was knocked off a bit more,'' he said. "I'm disappointed, but when you have to rely on mechanical devices there's nothing you can do about it ... you just have to go on to the next race.

"Full marks to Neil, who turned in a good performance.'' The diminutive de Ste. Croix, known for his fast finishes, put most emphasis on the start this time and would reap the dividends.

He led after the first phase of the run and once Hopkins had been removed from the fray de Ste. Croix was able to maintain a reasonable gap over young Steve Doyling.

"Basically, before the race I decided to go extra hard from the start,''said de Ste. Croix, finally successful in lifting the crown after three attempts.

"It was unfortunate that Greg had problems and a real shame as it would have been interesting to see what might have transpired.'' Doyling, one of the rising stars in these multi-discipline events, showed tremendous power on the cycle, with the best time (49:32) of those in the individual category and third fastest overall behind Mike Lee (49:15) and Jeff Payne (49:30).

"I think I had a really good bike and my first run was good,'' said Doyling.

"I more or less tried to stay relaxed on the second run and bring it home.

"I was aiming for the top three at least and got in the top two, although if Greg had stayed in that would have been a lot harder.

"It's still early and we have a lot more triathlons coming up and I need to build up more on my running.'' Third overall was the evergreen Jeremy Ball (1:29:45), who also snatched the 40-49 category.

Spyros Barres and Payne combined to clock 1:20:39 for the team title ahead of Lee and Harry Patchett (1:23:02) and Earl Pringle and Kevin Tucker (1:26:58).

LYNN KYNOCH -- Smashed the women's record with a time of 1:33:44 yesterday.