Will this be the year that three-time winner Paula Lewin's domination of the Female Athlete of the Year category ends? The top sailor, who by her own admission had an "up and down year'', will be hard-pressed to match triple-jumper Brian Wellman's achievement of five straight titles (1992-96) when the 19th Sports Awards ceremony is held this evening at the Hamilton Princess Hotel.

Making a strong claim to become only the second female winner since the men and women's categories were made separate entities in 1996 is equestrienne MJ Tumbridge who won Bermuda's first ever Pan American Games gold medal last summer in Winnipeg, Canada.

If Tumbridge, who resides in Surrey, England, wins she will become the first equestrienne to win an Athlete of the Year award since Peter Gray's triumph in 1986-87.

Another female with a strong 1999 season was cyclist Melanie Claude who came into her own in the male-dominated sport.

After winning the National Duathlon Championship last March, Claude was 12th overall against the men in the Sinclair Packwood Memorial Heritage Day Classic in May before beating out all categories, including the men, to win a 63-mile race at Southside.

That victory jump-started Claude's season as she then went on to win Category 3 of the Cumberbatch National Road Race Championship the following month. That was followed up with a victory in the La Coupe Des Ameriques, a three-day stage race in Quebec, Canada in July.

Then Claude was 14th overall at both the Canadian International Female Grand Prix in Quebec and the Killington three-day stage race in Vermont, before going on to win the three-day stage race of the CD&P Grand Prix and earn the bronze medal in the time trial event at the World B Championships in Uruguay.

Her honours at the Bermuda Bicycle Association's Awards Banquet in November include Cyclist of the Year, Most Improved Cyclist, time trial female champion and road racing champion in Category 3 where she raced against the men.

However, while those credentials would have made Claude an overwhelming favourite in any other year, she will face stiff opposition from Tumbridge.

Last year the bowling pair of Antoine Hunt and Conrad Lister took Athlete of the Year honours after winning the silver at the 1998 Pan Am Games and Tumbridge's success at Commonwealth will be similiarly hard to ignore.

In fact the men's winner could also be chosen as a result of a strong performance at those same Games when Bermuda won three medals for the first time in a major international event.

Bringing home silver medals were sailors Malcolm Smith and Sara Lane Wright, with Smith also winning the Sunfish Masters in Florida, the Sunfish North Americans in Maine, the Laser Class of the Bermuda International Race Week and the Bermuda National Championships prior to that. Smith has never won the Athlete of the Year award.

Also likely to make a bid for the men's Athlete of the Year award are tennis player Ricky Mallory, who had an outstanding year, winning a host of titles in 1999 as he dominated.

Mallory won three titles at both the Pomander Gate Colonial Open and the Port Royal Open, the singles and doubles at the Heineken Open, the Bermuda Lawn Tennis Club's Invitational and the Coral Beach Invitational. Mallory was also a member of the Davis Cup team which travelled to Trinidad last March. He had four singles wins and one loss.

Another athlete to dominate his sport locally was runner Kavin Smith whose string of titles included the May 24 Marathon Derby.

Those not receiving invitations to attend the jacket and tie affair, which will see both the Premier Jennifer Smith and Sports Minister Dennis Lister in attendance, can watch the preceedings live on TV-7 starting at 7.30 p.m.

Awards will be presented in some five categories, including Achievement, Appreciation, Special Achievement and Sports Citation.

Horse sense: MJ Tumbridge's gold medal win at the Pan Am Games should be enough to tip the scales away from cyclist Melanie Claude and sailor Paula Lewin.