Bermuda's flag at the 11th World Veterans Athletic Championships which get underway in Buffalo, New York tomorrow.

Jennifer Fisher and Peggy Couper will be Bermuda's only representatives at the championships which are expected to attract athletes from more than 70 nations.

The competition is open only to females aged 35 and over, and males 40 and over with age divisions spaced in five year increments.

For Fisher, who has competed at the Commonwealth Games in Canada and the Pan-Am Games in Argentina during the last year, it will be her third trip to an international Masters event, and to date she remains unbeaten.

In the North American Championships in Edmonton in 1994, Fisher grabbed four gold medals -- in the 200, 400 and 800 metres as well as the 400 metres hurdles -- and later in the year at the Indoor Championships in New York struck gold in the 600 yards and 800 metres.

However, in Buffalo competition is expected to be much tougher than in either of her previous veterans outings.

Unbeaten in cross country last season, and defeated only once -- in the May 24 Marathon -- on the roads in the last year, Fisher is aiming to compete in as many as five events in the 35-40 age group.

She will line up for the 400 metres hurdles on Saturday, the 800 metres next Tuesday and the 1500 metres on Friday, July 21. Husband/coach Eddie Fisher said yesterday she would then consider two additional events depending on her condition.

Meanwhile, Couper, who has been a familiar face and a perennial winner on the local road running, cross country and triathlon scene for close to 20 years, will contest just one event.

A sub-three-hour marathoner, she will race in tomorrow's cross-country over 10 kilometres in the 50-55 age division. The course has been described as challenging, run over rolling hills with a mixture of grass, trail and pavement.

The championships wind up on July 23.

Jennifer Fisher