BERMUDA’S female Island Games triathlon contingent has been decimated — but mainly because endurance athletes have set their sights on even bigger goals. Many are heading to the home of the Iron Man championships in Hawaii.

At one stage Karen Bordage, Karen Smith and Julia Hawley were due to head to the Island Games in Rhodes.

But Hawley suffered injury woes while Bordage and Smith are now Hawaii-bound in October after coming first and second in their age group in the Brazil qualifier.

However with the Rhodes spots reserved, the Bermuda Triathlon Association persuaded Andrew Davis and Kent Richardson to fill in while female mountain biker Kim McMullen will also try her hand at the triathlon which handily falls on the last day of the competition.

“She’s in good form,” said President of the Bermuda Triathlon Association Steve Petty.

Davis, 30, went to the Guernsey Island Games for mountain biking and Petty said the Channel Islanders would be the favourites in the triathlon this time around with Bermuda not expecting a medal.

“Certainly Kent Richardson and Andrew should give a good account of themselves. They do quite well in local races — they are deserving that’s for sure.

“And in the female competition if Kim has a good swim then she is already a strong cyclist and runner but I have no idea of the competition.

“It’s a shame we can’t send our strongest team. The Naude brothers have had study commitments — they would do really well there — and someone like Kris Hedges would do really well but it’s not on their radar.”

These days people are swapping the Olympic standard triathlon distances — a 1.5K swim, a 40K cycle race and a 10K run for the rigours of Iron Man where athletes tackle a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile cycle and full marathons of 26.2 miles.

Petty said: “People all want to conquer the Iron Man and the ones that are here have done quite well. It’s very hard to get into Hawaii.

“Every other year we might have one person who does Hawaii but to probably have four or five this year is pretty amazing for a small island.”

Alex Jones qualified in the Arizona Iron Man earlier in the year. This weekend Peter Mills is aiming to qualify for Hawaii at an event in Idaho while Norbert Meyer is also heading to Germany for a qualifier.

And sisters Deanna and Kim McMullen qualified for the Hawaii after getting second and third place in the Eagle man or half Iron Man heat in Maryland in November two weeks ago.

But the pair are instead going for the half Iron Man Championships in Florida in November.

Despite the distractions of the Iron Man, traditional triathlon has gone from strength to strength, helped by a good junior programme including trips abroad to Canada and Chicago this year, and the high profile given to the sport by Flora Duffy, once ranked 19 in the world.

Petty said Duffy’s disappointment in Madrid, which saw her drop out, had been unfairly reported.

“There were 20 females who dropped out, of which nine had been on the podium or had won world cup or world championships. The conditions were horrendous.

“I think it was 33 Celsius with 20-odd knot winds so once you lose contact with that main group it’s like a case of hanging in there.

“A month ago she had a fifth place in Lisbon. I am sure she just has some tinkering to do. It could be her studies or because she had travelled a lot.”