ORGANISERS of the second Escape to Bermuda Triathlon will have their eyes fixed on Hawaii this weekend as expectations are high that both the male and female favourites in the world's most famous triathlon, the Hawaii Ironman, will be coming to Bermuda at the start of next month.

To snag the two reigning Hawaii champions would represent a major coup for Bermuda.

Men's favourite Chris McCormack is the current Hawaii champion and he has already committed himself to the Bermuda showpiece on November 2.

Regarded as the highest profile triathlete in the world, McCormack ¿ who is known by most in the sport simply as 'Macca' ¿ took the triathlon world by storm when he won the World Championships and World Cup Point Series in 1996. The World Cup Point Series competition was over the same distance as next month's Escape to Bermuda event.

If 'Macca', who has a Scottish father and a Maori bloodline mother, retains his title in Hawaii it will mean the Bermuda event organisers will have secured half their dream ticket.

Britain's Chrissie Wellington, like 'Macca,' is seeking to retain her 2007 Hawaii title, and although she has not yet committed herself to coming to Bermuda, organiser Dave Morrison has high hopes she will take up that option after she has completed this weekend's challenge.

"Chrissie came out of nowhere last year. She won Hawaii and she could be coming to Bermuda. If she comes we will have both the 2007 Hawaii champions. Hopefully both she and McCormack will win Hawaii this year so that we can have the two reigning champions," he said.

Escape to Bermuda features a swim over a metric mile (1,500 metres) with competitors being taken out in a ferry off Dockyard and swimming back to shore. The athletes then transfer to cycles for a 40K race to St. George's and then switch to the final discipline and run 10K in a two-lap course around the historic east end town.

Last year the inaugural event received international write-ups in sporting magazines and was also televised. There will be sporting channel TV coverage again this year.

Escape to Bermuda will be a combined individual and team event. It is linked to San Francisco's long established and notoriously tough Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon, with many of the best performers there being given automatic slots for Bermuda.

Local amateur athletes will make up around half of the field, and spectators will get the chance to see last Sunday's Bank of Bermuda Foundation Triathlon winning team once again as the formidable trio of teenage swimmer Eleanor Gardner, time trial champion cyclist Garth Thompson and runner Chris Estwanik, who won this year's May 24 Half Marathon, have entered.

But for most it is the array of big-time triathletes descending on Bermuda for the showpiece that is the main attraction.

Last year's men's winner Andy Potts will be absent this time around, however women's winner Becky Lavelle, of the US, intends to defend her title. This year she has already won the Los Angeles Triathlon. And although she did not compete in the Beijing Olympics, she travelled with Team USA as an alternative squad pick.

Lavelle will start as a slight favourite, on the strength of her pedigree and the fact that she knows the course. Last year's runner-up and fellow American Rebecca Wassner is also coming back for another crack at the Bermuda challenge. Wassner was only one-and-a-half minutes in arrears of Lavelle in the 2007 event.

Other top women lining up include American's Sarah Groff and Mary Beth Ellis, and England's Andrea Whitcombe and Jodie Swallow.

Groff and Whitcombe are ranked sixth and eighth respectively in the world, although their rankings come courtesy of 'draft legal' triathlons where it is permitted to cycle in packs and benefit from reduced wind drag. Drafting is not allowed in the Escape to Bermuda Triathlon, with cyclists required to be 10 metres apart.

Groff is an up-and-coming star and in her first professional season was seventh in the World Championships and third in the US Olympic trials.

England's Swallow made headlines as a junior, and her swimming background includes a UK 400m medley title and being twice the Junior European Triathlon champion and three times UK national champ. She also competed in the Athens 2004 Olympics.

In the men's event 'Macca' McCormack will line up against American Jarrod Shoemaker who was 18th in Beijing and only two minutes behind the gold medallist. Shoemaker's strongest suit is the run, and he won the highly competitive Carlsbad 5000 metres race this year.

Spectators should watch out also for New Zealand-born Matt 'Boom Boom' Reed, who as an American citizen won the US Olympic trials and national championship, although he faded to 32nd place in Beijing.

Other leading men include American Brian Fleischmann, who was last year's Bermuda runner-up and Australia's Simon Thompson, who was forth in 2007.

Escape to Bermuda is once again being organised by IMG Sports, one of the world's leading sports promoters.

Organiser Dave Morrison said the inaugural event last year was well received. "IMG is a huge marketing firm and they are very committed to the event. We've got a strong pro-field and many, many amateurs, including local athletes.

"I think the team event is going to build more and more, last year there wasn't a huge number of teams."

There will be around 500 athletes taking part either as individuals or as part of three-person teams.

The Escape to Bermuda Triathlon will be preceded by the Rubis Triathlons on Saturday, November 1 at Clearwater Beach, in which seniors will compete over a 750m swim, 20K bike ride and 5K run. Juniors will compete over a variety of lesser distances.

For full details of the triathlon weekend and the race course go to www.escapetobermudatriathlon.com. Over 300 volunteers are required for the race with generous volunteer draw prizes. To volunteer e-mail Susan Edney at seedneynorthrock.bm