Evan Naude's failure to count properly cost him victory in the Tokio Millennium Re Ltd Triathlon on Sunday.

Instead, Evan's identical twin Riann finished first in the individual event, with his brother eventually finishing second just ahead of Garth Thomson.

Evan was the overall leader throughout most of the race and seemed certain to win. However, after being comfortably ahead, he came into the finish line a lap early. By the time he realised his error and headed back out to complete the last lap of the run he had lost enough time for Riann to take the lead and the eventual win in a time of 1:07:43.

Deanna McMullen was the overall winner in the female division and led the field from start to finish. Sister Kim finished in second and Susan Edney third.

The race at Clearwater Beach was the first major event on the 2009 triathlon calendar and saw more than 50 individual athletes taking part, with 20 teams also competing.

Tokio Millennium Re – Jamie Pedro, Ed Jordan and Tats Hoshina – won the senior males team race, with Team Madison – Tom McMahon, Graeme Miller and Toni Miller – claiming the mixed team division. The duo of Karen Smith and Karen Bordage claimed the female title.

Competitors as young as six entered the PeeWee division.

There were also multiple divisions for junior participants – racing bikes, mountain bikes, teams, individuals and advanced juniors.

There was also a category for athletes doing their first triathlon event, in a shortened Try-a-Tri category.

In the Try-a-Tri event, Camilla Hacking was the female winner with Miguel Daponte taking the male victory.

Molly Pilgrim won in the Advanced Junior Female category with other winners across age group categories being Kerry Palmer (7-9 MTB), Lynsey Palmer (7-8), Erica Hawley (9-10), Katie Page (11-12), and Kamryn Minors (13-14).

The male winners were Timothy Viera (7-8), Charlie Pilgrim (9-10), Noah Vierra (10-11 MTB), Justin Ferreira (11-12), and Alexander Davis (13-14).

The junior team winners were Anasia Barclay, Shania Burrows and Zanah Simmons in the 7-10 category and Kiante Lightbourne, Elizabeth Jordan and Aaliyah Nolan in the 11-14 category.

n Kent Richardson's impressive fourth place finish at the St Croix Ironman this past weekend has earned him a place at the prestigious world championships in Clearwater, Florida, later this year.