Caught up in a bizarre moment when his team's cyclist didn't show up during last year's Bank of Bermuda Team Triathlon, Ferguson had the right team-mates yesterday when he, Greg Hopkins and Brett Forgesson rolled to victory in the annual event.

Ferguson and Hopkins kept their team in or near the lead through the one-mile swim and 15-mile cycle and then left it up to their ace in the hole for the six-mile anchor run.

Together, they posted a time of one hour, 29 minutes and ten seconds, beating the team of Ronald Cowen, Mel Bennett and David Dunwoody by more than a minute.

A hard-charging Jay Donawa pulled his trio of Nuri Latham and Neil de Ste Croix into third place with a 1:30:32 clocking.

The first female team to cross the line was Claire Mancell, Melanie Claude and Lynn Patchett in 13th, although the first female was actually Sara Mancell, who teamed up with Steve Sterritt and Newton Adcock for seventh overall.

Ferguson was part of a pack of six swimmers who exited the water separated by a mere ten seconds, then handed off to Hopkins, who waged a fierce battle with Jason Krupp on the bike.

Krupp, taking over from swimmer Mike Cash, supplied Dave Cash with a 15-metre bulge going into the run but that was meaningless against Forgesson, a veteran marathoner and still one of the Island's top distance runners. At the end of the first lap, Forgesson enjoyed a 15-second edge on Cash and never looked back.

Donawa, who has only recently started training for next year's track season, surprised even himself by pulling his team into third with a 33:20 clocking over the final leg.

Bad luck haunted a team that looked ready to challenge for the lead. Shona Palmer was one of the first swimmers but husband Tim on the bike was penalised an extra lap for missing the transtion area. Runner Andrew Doble had no chance after that but the team still placed 19th.

Palmer was the first woman out of the water, beating even Karen Smyers, the 1995 world professional champion, who is visiting the Island as a guest of the bank and the Bermuda Triathlon Association.

Smyers, currently undergoing rehabilation following surgery for a lacerated hamstring, put on a junior clinic earlier in the week then teamed with a couple more youngsters, Allison Petty and Richard Wolcott, in the race.

A total of 70 teams took part, a drop of more than 30 from last year.

Photos by Arthur Bean TEAM WORK -- A little thing like the presence of former world professional triathlon champion Karen Smyers (left) couldn't stop the team of Trevor Ferguson, Greg Hopkins and Brett Forgesson in yesterday's Bank of Bermuda Team Triathlon. The trio won the event by more than a minute over their closest challengers.