conditions yesterday to claim their first Bank of Bermuda Individual Triathlon titles at the US Naval Annex.

Their victories ended four years' domination of the event by husband-and-wife duo Greg and Mary Hopkins. Greg, suffering from the effects of a virus, pulled out on the second lap of the bike segment while Mary did not compete due to pregnancy.

Once Hopkins, who was in second place, dropped out, it was left to De Ste Croix and Kevin Tucker to chase down early leader Michel Bouchard. The tall French Canadian led a disappointing field of 69 out of the water, clocking 22:33 for the choppy one-mile swim and held onto his lead throughout the 15-mile cycle as rain showers slowed up his pursuers.

Still, by the end of the bike, Tucker had closed the gap to less than 90 seconds. De Ste Croix, who entered the bike-run transition in third place after the day's best bike time of 37:50, made the quicker changeover and hit the run 11 seconds in front of Tucker and 71 seconds behind Bouchard, who was facing his weakest of the three disciplines.

De Ste Croix overtook Bouchard on the first lap and after three miles led Tucker by 19 seconds, eventually stretching it to 26 seconds at the finish to win in a personal best one hour, 38 minutes and 17 seconds, having clocked the day's best run of 33:26.

It completed a unique hat-trick for the 28-year-old Channel Islander who earlier this year won the National Duathlon and National Triathlon Championships and made up for wife Claire's disappointment at dropping out with a puncture.

"I didn't even know Kevin was in front of me until the transition,'' admitted De Ste Croix, who was also a team event winner last week. "That was a major surprise! I heard people keep shouting `Tucker, 15 seconds' and I assumed he was behind me. I couldn't see because of the rain on my glasses.

"The rain slowed a few people down on the bike but I took a few risks trying to make up time. I didn't have a good swim and I had a lot to make up, so that made me hammer it on the bike.

"On the run I tried to break Kevin at about two and a half miles by putting some surges in. Fortunately, I got a gap and worked on it.

"This finishes the year off nicely and it makes it extra special working for the bank and winning.'' De Ste Croix is an officer in the personal trust department.

He added that the win would have meant even more had he beaten four-time champion Hopkins head-to-head.

"I would have like to have beaten Greg but it was still a personal best for me,'' said De Ste Croix, whose time was almost four minutes outside Hopkins' 1989 record of 1:34:22.

Tucker clocked a best-ever 1:38:43 while policeman Steve Donnelly, who leaves the Island next week, produced a typically determined run to go out in style with a personal best 1:45:25 for third place. A strong run also helped Glynn Sexton to sixth place while much-fancied Steve Doyling, who flew home from college in Alabama for the race, could not shake off the effects of a cold and had to settle for seventh place after three consecutive third-place finishes.

Said 24-year-old Tucker: "My legs were tight going into the run. Neil attacked at the right time and I couldn't answer. I beat my best time from last year, so I'm happy with my race.

"On the bike you couldn't see too clearly, which made it real difficult. You had to slow down a lot on the corners and then accelerate all over again so you couldn't keep a consistent speed.'' Donnelly, who went from eighth to third on the run, said: "I was hoping to go out on a good note. I usually pull people back on the run and once I had people in my sight I knew I had something to aim for. On the last lap I could see Mike Bouchard struggling and that spurred me on.'' Bouchard, who has swum at national level in Canada, is used to being the event's fastest swimmer but was suprised to still be leading after the bike.

"Usually they fly by me after the first lap,'' he quipped. "The conditions helped me on the swim - the choppy conditions made it difficult for people to draft. I was very happy with my bike (41:04). I've done a lot of running this year but I always get stitches on the run.'' In the women's race, Julia Hawley had to pull out all the stops to beat newcomer Shona Cowie, finally overtaking her at the start of the last lap of the run.

Cowie, a former Commonwealth Games swimmer for Scotland, has been in Bermuda for three years but only took up triathlon this year. The 25-year-old physio was second overall out of the water in 23:08, more than two and a half minutes ahead of Hawley.

Hawley closed the gap with a bike time of 41:54, compared to Cowie's 46:54, and was more than a minute and a half faster on the run, eventually winning in 1:49:45, 22 seconds in front.

"It wasn't easy,'' admitted Hawley, who is fighting fit after giving birth to her first child less than a year ago. "Shona has really improved a lot. At first I thought she was going to take it because on the first lap of the bike she didn't slow down much. By the third and fourth laps I began to catch her.

The run was difficult because I haven't really done many races and I didn't know how fast she was.

"I was disappointed with my swim but it was very choppy and on the bike I was a little tentative on the corners like everyone else.'' Cowie, who swam the 200 fly and 800 freestyle at the 1986 Commonwealth Games, admitted she was "surprised to still be leading going into the run. I expected them to come flying past me on the cycle.'' Former champion Jim Butterfield regained the masters title from Jeremy Ball and was good enough for fourth overall while wife Debbie, another ex-champion, made it a family double by winning the female masters title at her first attempt.

FINE BATTLE -- Julia Hawley, top, had to wait until the second lap of the run to confirm her favourite's status after being led by Shona Cowie, below, through the swim and bike.

TURN IT ON -- New individual champion Neil de Ste Croix reaches for that little extra.