One has more than 200 people entered while it's uncertain if the other will take place.

For the second straight year, the Bank of Bermuda Triathlon and the Corporate Community Relay have clashed and the latter event is suffering.

So far, very few of the estimated 100 entry forms distributed for the annual road race have been submitted and, in an effort to salvage the event, Bermuda Track and Field Association (BTFA) officials are waiting until today to decide if to postpone the relay scheduled for 9 a.m. on Sunday.

"We would have to put the race off. We can't have a race with nobody in it. All the entry forms are gone but not too many have been returned.

"We are going to wait until Friday (today) to see if people return them. So we won't know until Saturday if the race is going on or not," said BTFA president Judy Simmons.

By contrast, Bank of Bermuda's Events and Promotions Officer and Race Organiser Karen Madeiros says their Team Triathlon - the second half of a two-part series - has attracted 50 adult teams. There are also 43 teams contesting the junior duathlon which means that a total of 236 competitors will be in action. The duathlon begins at 8.30 a.m. on Sunday while the triathlon starts an hour later in Hamilton.

"We're all ready to go provided the weather remains good," confirmed Madeiros yesterday, adding that it was unfortunate that a collision of dates had reoccurred.

Last year, the first stage of the Bank's event - the Individual Triathlon - coincided with the Relay in which only eight teams competed. Both sides have vowed to "work together" to ensure this situation is not repeated in 2003.

"Obviously it doesn't benefit anyone when we have conflicting events. It's tough because the sports calendar is so busy but we want to ensure this doesn't happen again,"said Madeiros.

Noting the athletics calendar is full and "there was nowhere else to put the Corporate Relay", Simmons indicated the Relay has been held "around this time each year".

"All the BTFA affiliates do up a calendar at the end of June and then it's published. At that time we didn't know this was clashing with anything. This event has been on the same weekend each year, it's usually October 6 or 7. It's not ideal to have clashes and there should be co-operation.

'We didn't know their event was going to be on the same date until we saw ads in the paper," said Simmons.

She contended that the triathlon used to be in September and but has now been pushed back into October.

However, Madeiros - who only discovered two weeks ago that the BTFA had also planned a race this Sunday - explained that for the last four years the triathlon had spanned the last weekend in September and the first weekend in October. In addition, she said this year's dates were set last year.

Simmons assured the uncertainty of the situation would not cause a problem as all arrangements for the Relay had already been made.

"The only thing that would have to have been done is to have the entries put in (to the computer) and allocate numbers so that when people come on Friday (today) they could collect their numbers. But we do have late registration on Friday so some people would have been registering and getting their numbers at the same time anyway."

Meanwhile, Madeiros highlighted some of the teams expected to vie for top triathlon and duathlon honours.

Among the men, the combination of last week's Individual winner Matthew Herring, Karl Outerbridge and Colin Swan are fancied as are Stephen Kenny, Kent Richardson and Mark Albuoy. The women's competition will also be a keen tussle with the trio of Belinda Castree, Melanie Claude and Anna Eatherley expected to be in the hunt along with Zoe Hanson, Julia Hawley and Karen Smith.