It's "do or die" for Bermuda's swimmers at the National Championships this weekend - their last chance to qualify for next month's Commonwealth Games.

The race against the clock will start in earnest from this evening when a foursome of the Island's top male swimmers will attempt to qualify for the 4x100-metre individual medley at the Manchester Games.

The team - comprised of Ronald Cowen, Graham Smith, Roy-Allan Burch and Michael O'Connor - will hit the BASA Pool at Saltus at 6 p.m. against a combined relay squad from two North American universities.

"There will be a team racing against them which is a combination of Bervard (University in Florida) and Dalhousie (University in Canada) swimmers and that's to push them as hard as possible to make the required standard.

"This is the last opportunity to make the Commonwealth Games standard so we're expecting some exciting swimming and some herculean efforts this weekend," said president of the Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association (BASA) Ian Gordon.

As customary, he explained, 10 swimmers from the two universities were invited to participate in this year's meet to boost the competitiveness.

"The swimmers who are here are all top-class and they are here to challenge our swimmers - to help them meet qualifying times by giving us some serious competition."

The meet will span five sessions: Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings from 6 p.m. onwards and two morning sessions on Saturday and Sunday, starting at 9 a.m. both days.

Four Bermudian swimmers - Cowen, Smith, Burch and lone female, Kiera Aitken - have already qualified to represent the Island in Manchester.

Other Bermudian swimmers will be trying to meet the qualifying standards for the Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships (CISC) in July.