Jonathon Herring believes the conditions in Bermuda will hold the local contingent in good stead when they take on the top triathletes in the NatWest Island Games on Sunday morning.The Catlin National Olympic Distance triathlon and AON triathlon champion is set to join women’s AON champion Laurie Orchard, Laura Norman, Adam Hopkin, Tucker Murphy and Martina Olcheski-Bell on the local team.In what will be the opening event of the Games, starting at 7.00am, conditions are expected to be relatively cool before the competitors take to the course, but the heat and humidity should become a factor as the racing wears on.“We have an advantage in terms of the conditions but there are a lot of experienced triathletes competing so they have experience in competing away from home in hot conditions. I think everyone will be pretty well schooled in preparing for this,” said Herring.“Also, they have been here for a few days, got used to the temperature and humidity and so forth so they should have some sort of idea as to what is expected when they reach the start line come Sunday.“It is quite early in the morning so the heat shouldn’t be a real factor but we will try and milk it as best we can.”The race goes by an Olympic style format, which will see athletes race a 1,500 metre swim (2 laps), a 40 kilometre bike (3 laps) and a 10K run (4 laps) course that starts and ends at Clearwater Beach in St David’s.Drafting on the bike will not be allowed.The strategy for most will be pacing themselves in the lead pack before powering through their respective discipline in attempt to distance themselves from their rivals.Herring said that he would be going out hard from the outset, and doesn’t believe there is much pressure on the local athletes to produce medals, but rather put on strong performances that will hopefully have a knock-on effect to the other sports.“Everyone wants a good performance, especially at home, so we are looking to put on a good show.“I know that there are a few high level guys on the men’s side so I’ll take what I can get in that aspect. I don’t know how they are going to perform when they take to the circuit but I’m certainly going to be in one of the toughest races Bermuda has seen in many years.“We don't usually do races in the middle of the summer like this. It could be fun out there.“ I have been inconsistent but I’m hoping the training I have done has freshened me up in time for race day. I’m not feeling the strongest but I’m hoping that come the morning I can put something together in the heat and be able to have a good race.“I’m going to go out and go hard and hope that my conditioning is up to par to be in the running as the race winds down. No one knows the conditions and they can change in the blink of an eye.“I don’t have the base conditioning to hammer from start to finish but I don’t think that they will go out at a blistering pace.“With that being said the last thing I want to do is be chasing stronger guys from the beginning.”