THE 2007 Hawaii Ironman champion Chris McCormack and defending champion Becky Lavelle and Sarah Groff, both from the United States, will start as favourites on Sunday in the Escape to Bermuda Triathlon.

But they will face stiff competition from some outstanding triathletes.

After bike technical problems cut short his defence of his Hawaii Ironman title this month McCormack will not be fatigued going into Sunday's event. He has won many Olympic distance races during his career including the 1997 World Championships and World Cup Series and is strong in the swim, bike and run. Unless he has mechanical problems or a bad day he should be first across the finish line on Sunday.

However, there will be a host of outstanding athletes vying for top honours including the US's Matt Reed, a Beijing Olympian who was fifth in the World Championships this year and won the US National Championships and Jarrod Shoemaker, an outstanding runner and a former world Under-23 Triathlon champion who was 18th in Beijing just two minutes behind the winner. Shoemaker is fresh off a silver medal in last Sunday's Huatulco, Mexico World Cup Series event ¿ a race in which Reed only managed 15th in hot and humid conditions. Reed was fourth in the Minneapolis Life Time Fitness Triathlon, a race with the biggest prize purse for a non-drafting Olympic distance event that attracted a very strong field of international triathletes.

Thomas Springer and Michael Raelert will be flying the German flag and are coming of good races in Huatulco where they finished fourth and seventh respectively. Raelert was also fourth in early October in the non-drafting Dallas Triathlon and sixth in Los Angeles, part of the four-race lucrative Life Time Fitness Series of races in the US which also includes Minneapolis and Chicago and have very competitive fields.

Raelert and Reed may well provide McCormack with the biggest challenge this weekend.

American Brian Fleischmann, second last year and 12th in Huatulco, is a very experienced athlete and will certainly be in contention as will Simon Thompson of Australia, fourth last year and 10th in the Athens Olympics who has had an outstanding career. This year he also won the Asia Triathlon Cup, had two top ten finishes in two of the more competitive World Cup Series races in Australia and Japan and finished 12th at the World Championships.

A dark horse for a podium finish may be the US's David Thompson. Unlike some of the other top contenders in Sunday's event Thompson races almost exclusively in non-drafting (no pack riding permitted) races and Sunday's non-drafting race and tough bike and run course will suit him as he is a very strong cyclist and runs well off the bike.

France's Ben Sanson, third in this year's Brazil Ironman, and the US's Eric Limkemann will likely lead the mens pros after the swim and early on in the bike but will it tough to finish on the podium.

Defending champion Becky Lavelle is known as a non-drafting specialist and she has had an outstanding season in 2008 winning the women's Life Time Fitness Series including a very strong third place in the Minneapolis event behind Olympic gold medalist Emma Snowsill. She also had wins in Los Angeles and Chicago and a second in New York.

Lavelle's strongest challenge in defence of her title is likely to come from the young up and coming American team member Sarah Groff.

Groff has been racing in the draft legal World Cup Series from which world rankings are given and finished this year ranked fourth in the world after four top-ten finishes in World Cup Series races, including a second in Huatulco last Sunday and an impressive seventh place in the World Championships. She has also raced non-drafting races with more impressive results, winning the Lake Havascu Triathlon and notably taking fourth, ahead of Lavelle who finished sixth, in the women's professional field at the Life Time Fitness Series Dallas Triathlon which like the men's field attracted a very strong international entry. However Groff finished second to Lavelle in New York so there is very little between them.

Mary Beth Ellis from the US, who finished second behind Lavelle in the Life Time Fitness Series and Rebecca Wassner, second last year in Bermuda and third in the Life Time Fitness Series, will also be looking to upstage Lavelle but were both unable to beat her in the Life Time Series races although Ellis was second to Lavelle in Los Angeles. In Life Time Minneapolis Ellis finished sixth and Wassner ninth behind Lavelle.

Others to watch will be the UK's Jodie Swallow and Andrea Whitcombe. They are both drafting specialists and therefore may find the going tough on the bike but both have raced in non-drafting races.

Whitcombe is recognised as one of the world's top triathletes and finished with a sixth place ranking in the World Cup Series including a win in Hungary and third in Huatulco behind Groff. Swallow does have some non-drafting racing under her belt and was eighth in Life Time Minneapolis just 20 seconds behind Wassner but took third in Chicago and New York. She was also third in Huatulco last week.

Clearly the women's race will be very exciting with very little separating Lavelle and Groff and a number of other women are likely to be hot on their heels hoping to break the stranglehold that Lavelle and Groff appear to have over the top two spots.

And what of Bermuda's Tyler Butterfield and fiancé, Australian Nikki Egyed?

Butterfield, a former junior elite bronze medallist in triathlon and 34th in the Athens Olympics as a youngster, is racing on home turf and always rises to the big occasion. However, he is likely to be trailing after the swim and although he should make up a lot of that time on the bike he will do well to get a top eight finish in such a strong field and so soon into his triathlon comeback after a few years out of the sport. If Egyed can stay close to the leaders in the swim then she could well get off the bike with the leading women as she is currently one of the world's top professional cyclists having moved to cycling from triathlon two years ago. With little running under her belt Egyed may find it difficult to stay in touch with the top contenders on the run but as a former Under-23 Triathlon World Champion she has the class to possibly contend for a medal although a top five finish would be a very good result in such a strong field.