Bermuda's Tyler Butterfield made an impressive World Cup triathlon debut on Saturday and is confident he is well placed to attain his goals for this year.

Competing in an International Triathlon Union's (ITU) event for the first time, the 19-year-old finished 49th in a high-class field of 70 competitors in the professional segment of the St. Anthony's World Cup in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The race featured a 1.5 kilometre swim, a 40K bike ride and, finally, a 10K run for which Butterfield clocked two hours, one minute and 11 seconds.

His splits were 19.19 for the swim; 1:05.16 for the cycling and 35.25 for the run. He also recorded a transition time of 38 seconds between the swim and the bike ride and a 34-second transition between the cycling and running. The race was won by Sylvain Dodet of France in 1:53.35.

"I feel good. I was happy because of the swim but I should have done better on the bike and in the run but, as an overall race, I was pleased," Butterfield said yesterday.

Pre-race nerves were getting the better of the Bermudian initially but his training colleague and house-mate, Australian Brad Kahlefeldt (who finished fifth), encouraged him "to go out hard".

The Australia-based triathlete said he was "surprised" by how well he swam because he feared getting stuck at the back. However, Butterfield benefited from a strong start and emerged from the water "on the end of a big pack".

"I missed them in transition because my transition was a bit slow. So, on the bike, I missed being with the second main pack by a few metres. I was chasing them but I couldn't catch them and I ended up with another smaller pack of about seven people. It was hot so we went steady instead of trying to go fast. My times aren't great but I'm pleased because it was my first World Cup race."

Points accumulated in World Cup events go towards world rankings but strangely Butterfield's name has already been appearing on rankings of the world's top male triathletes. At the end of March, he was ranked 303rd in the world.

Saying "I have no idea how I got that" he surmised that some of the professional and junior races he competed in Down Under must have been ranked and therefore had points attached to them.

Very happy with his progress so far in 2002, Butterfield noted "there are not too many people at 19 racing in the World Cup".

"I am pretty sure I was the youngest person in the race."

Looking ahead to the Commonwealth Games and the Junior World Championships later this season, Butterfield expressed confidence that he could achieve his goals for those major meets. In the former, he is aiming to be among the top 25 while he believes he has a good shot at being among the top ten world juniors and possibly even medalling.

"Yes, I am on track. It won't be easy but I'm pretty much there. It's just if I have a good race on that day, it's definitely possible."

Butterfield is relaxing in Florida with his brother, Spencer, for a week before coming to Bermuda for three weeks.

"I'll ease back into training in about two weeks and then I'll be back at it hard for Commonwealth Games," he said.

Meanwhile, some of the Island's other top triathletes also had reason to celebrate as they recorded outstanding performances in the Age Groups segment of the St. Anthony's Triathlon which took place yesterday.

Kent Richardson was first among Male Masters in 2:07.38 while Karen Smith was first among females 30-34 in 2:18.02 hours. She was also the tenth amateur woman overall.

Junior competitor, 19-year-old Alex Jones, was third in the 15-19 age group.