A number of International Race Weekend elite athletes, including double winner Emmanuel Chamer of Kenya, are leaving Bermuda bemused after being shuffled between three hotels in less than 24 hours.

Having just won the half-marathon ? a day after victory in the 10K ? Chamer and other elite athletes staying at the Fairmont Hamilton Hotel had to pack their bags and move out at lunchtime on Sunday.

They were relocated to the Fairmont Southampton and given transport back to the Hamilton hotel in the evening to attend the awards ceremony.

Then on Monday morning Chamer and fellow Kenyan Geoffrey Rono, who was third in Friday?s elite mile, were on a training run and returned to the hotel to find their possessions had been taken from their room and put in storage. They were relocated again, this time to Grotto Bay Beach Hotel for their final night on the Island.

Two Bermudian residents who are friends of the athletes said they were concerned the runners would leave the Island confused, not having been given a proper explanation for the hotel re-locations between Sunday and Monday. understands other invited elite athletes were, on Sunday evening, unsure where they would be staying last night after being switched from Hamilton to Southampton at lunchtime on Sunday.

?They did not expect or appreciate being treated this way. It would be common sense for them to have been told they would be moving rather than to find their belongings had been put in storage when they came back from a training run,? said a friend of the athletes who lives on the Island, echoing comments of another concerned caller to this newspaper.

?I would not like them to leave Bermuda without it all being explained properly to them.?

When contacted at Grotto Bay, Chamer said: ?No-one told us we were moving again. When we found our items had been taken we were surprised.

?This is my first time here and we have been in three hotels. I am surprised they do it this way, but we are proud of the people here and enjoyed our stay.?

Peter Lever, one of the event directors, did not express concern with the hotel relocations and said any athlete staying beyond Monday morning was enjoying a bonus to their stay.

A comment from Fairmont Hotels and Resorts was being sought last night.