fields respectively in the Fourth Annual National Duathlon Championships held on Sunday at the United States Naval Air Station in St. George's.

Hopkins successfully defended his crown by dominating in his specialty, the bicycle time trial, as he won out over eventual second-place finisher Neil De Ste Croix. The pair completed the first run seconds apart and tallied back and forth through the first four loops of the cycle course before Hopkins stepped up the tempo, dropping De Ste Croix and carving out a two-and-a-half-minute lead by the end of the leg.

The multi-talented athlete cruised home comfortably on the second run to end up with a time of 1:24:44 while De Ste Croix held off a strong challenge from Brett Forgesson -- who recorded the fastest times on each of the runs -- to come in second in 1:26:54.

The women's race was a hotly contested affair between Sousa and Melanie Claude.

The pair started hard from the gun with Claude completing the first five-kilometre run in a fast time of 19:20, 13 seconds behind early leader Jane Christie. Sousa followed less than a minute later, then rode a strong bike leg, catching and passing Claude and giving herself a 14-second lead to begin the cycle ride.

From there Sousa never looked back as she emerged with a time of 1:44:20 followed by Claude 18 seconds later and Jane Christie in the third spot.

The relay competition saw a battle between the runner/cyclist teams of Steven Caines and Carl Outerbridge, Ronue Cann and Dana Henry, and Jamal Hart partnered by Kevin Topple. This was decided when the first two teams were disqualified, leaving Hart and Topple as the victors. Second went to Vernon Tankard and Earl Pringle.

Grant Smith, competing in the boys 14 age group, captured overall honours in the Ironkids Triathlon on Saturday, crossing the line in 21 minutes and 37 seconds.

Sean Smatt was second in 22:23 with Kris Hedges (22:44) third and brother Trevor Hedges fourth (23:14).

The top girl was Julia Parker, followed by Ana Anton, Tamika Williams, Abigail Madeiros and Caroline Black.

Full results will appear in tomorrow's paper.

CLAIRE SOUSA -- Won a close women's race.