Tyler Butterfield and Karen Smith warmed up for the May 24 Marathan Derby with impressive displays in the Tokio Millennium Sprint Triathlon at Southside yesterday, winning the Men's and Women's category respectively.

Butterfield, who placed fifth at the Memorial Hermann Ironman on Galveston Island, Texas and third in the St. Croix Ironman in recently, finished the race in 58 minutes, 43 seconds, miles ahead of Ryan Gunn and Garth Thomson.

The Colorado-based athlete came out of the water in second, two seconds behind Paul Hallatt and alongside John Legge.

But the transition from swim to bike proved to be the turning point between the trio, with Butterfield cruising home, high fiving spectators as he crossed the line.

"The swim start wasn't too bad, there was a bit of wind out there but because we were in the shallow it didn't really become a factor," said Butterfield.

"A few people started to pull away from the rest in the swim, with John Legge and Stephen Fahy leading out and I know I had to stay with them, especially Fahy who is a former Olympic swimmer representative for Bermuda.

"He was just in front of me for the first half and then John started to pull away so I followed him and from there it was pretty steady onwards.

"By the end of the swim we both got out in close proximity to each other and then I managed to pull away.

"Once you get to the front in an event like this you stay there, but there were a few teams that came with me on the bike and caught me on the second lap so I knew I had to step up a gear in case those close to me where with them.

"The running transition I knew I had to make it quick to get the lead I wanted and I managed to do just that."

Despite his easy victory, the former Saltus student said he continued to push himself hard during the race in preparation for next week's derby.

"The exchange is crucial in the World circuit but today I didn't wear a wetsuit and Paul did which made a difference, but generally in the bigger triathlons a wetsuit tends to be a big bonus in time in the water," he said.

"I'm not the best in transition and it shows overseas, because five seconds in the difference of a transition on the bike turns into 25 metres and that is a huge difference.

"I pushed the run even when I knew I had it in the bag with next week coming soon but it felt good to get in the mode of being under pressure and we will see about next week."

Gunn and Thomson were trailing behind the lead pack getting out of the water, but Thomson, Bermuda's national time trial champion, and Gunn, an up and coming triathlete on the local circuit, made head way on the bike and run to finish strongly and take podium positions.

Women's champion Smith did not have things her own way as Butterfield did, having to chase down second place Dee Thomson and third place Karen Bordage on the run to lift the title.

Smith finished in a time of 1:10:41 to take the crown.

"The race was tough with the wind swirling and especially on the bike," said Smith. "We had the head wind coming with you going down and the turn around was tough.

"I am usually out of the water first out of the three of us, and then I'm trying to hold them off for the rest but today they caught me on the third lap of the bike but it made me keep them within range and then I relied on the run to catch them up.

"I know Karen is a fantastic runner but I managed to catch her and overall I had a good day."