Top local triathlete Karen Smith ended up in a Hawaii hospital with head injuries yesterday after her World Age Group Championships took a turn for the worse.

Smith, winner of the Bank of Bermuda Triathlon here last month and the Island?s leading female, was in 12th place coming out of the water in a field of 105 but was involved in a collision on the second leg and came off her bike.

She was taken to hospital in Honolulu for further tests and there were no further details of her condition at Press time last night.

Kris Hedges, meanwhile, was left satisfied after coming in second among the four Bermudians in the men?s 25-29 age group ? and 32nd overall with a two hours, four minutes and 19 seconds finish.

Hedges, who described the course as ?crowded?, was beaten by Evan Naude, who finished 27th in 2:03.27. while brother Riaan came home 45th in 2:06.39 over the Olympic distance course consisting of a 1.5 kilometre swim, 40 kilometre bike and 10K run. Adam Smith finished in 2:22.24 for 103rd place.

?The way they started us in waves was a little strange,? said a tired-sounding Hedges from his Honolulu hotel room last night.

?They had some of the older age groups going off first so it was pretty crowded on all parts of the course. The swim was in two laps because of the roughness of the seas and on the turns it got a little bit messy with plenty of grabbing and pushing and holding.

?The bike course was great, pretty flat although there was a hill at the start, and it was a great coastal route. There were two main groups and there was a lot of drafting going on. I made up a bit of time from my swim but maybe it was not enough as I would have liked although I did join up with the second main group.

?It was tough to tell where you were in the standings because all the different age groups were getting mixed up by then. I had enough left for a tempo run but Evan overtook me with about two kilometres left.

?It was good to be involved in an age group with four of us in, it made for some good competition and it was definitely an event well worth competing in.?

In other age groups Norbert Meyer finished 49th in the men?s 40-44 in 2:15.46 while Kent Richardson placed 22nd in the 45-49 group in 2:13.38.

Steven Petty, in the 50-54 age division, finished 63rd in 2:34.43 and Joanna Shillington came 65th in the 25-29 group in 2:33.34.