Olympian Tyler Butterfield was among a trio of local runners securing impressive top-ten finishes against an international field in the PwC Bermuda Half Marathon on Sunday.

The former professional cyclist and triathlete (1hr 13min 4sec) topped the local field to finish sixth overall and was followed by Kallan Richardson (1:16:56) and Sean Trott (1:17:23), who finished seventh and ninth among the 617-strong field.

Butterfield used this year’s Chubb Bermuda Triangle Challenge as a warm-up for an upcoming marathon in Japan.

“I have a marathon in five weeks in Osaka, Japan, so this is a big training weekend for me,” Butterfield told The Royal Gazette.

“I said to someone at the start that normally what I do here for the half I can double, so if I did 1:13 hopefully I can do 2:26 in five weeks.”

The Colorado-based athlete enjoys competing at home and this past weekend was no exception.

“It’s always nice to be back in Bermuda and especially for this event,” he said.

“I really enjoy coming down here. It’s such a fun weekend to run as hard as you can for a mile, hard as you can for a 10K and then hang on for the Half Marathon.

“It’s been a great weekend and I am so happy to get back.”

Butterfield was also gracious for the overwhelming support he received from the spectators.

“The crowds are amazing and the amount of people that cheered me I don’t get that anywhere else but here,” he said. “I’m not going to the Olympics or Commonwealth Games any more and am no longer a pro, so it’s sort of a flashback.

“The Triangle Challenge is getting so much history with it and so many people come back year after year. It’s so much fun and a unique race and such a unique place.

“It’s such a good weekend and Chubb is such a great sponsor to bring in people like Paula Radcliffe and last year Lord Sebastian Coe. It’s really nice.”

Bermuda Half-Marathon Derby champion Trott also completed the Half Challenge this year and was pleased with his showing.

“Overall I’m happy with my entire body of work this weekend,” he said.

“My time today was a bit slower than normal and I struggled quite a bit with fatigue over the last three miles, but looking back on what I did yesterday and Friday, I could have expected that.

“I know that this sets me up well for the rest of the running season. The combined effort from the three races will give me a significant fitness boost.”

Richardson, the youngest of the trio, was also pleased with his top-ten showing.

“I’m happy with how I executed the race,” he said. “My plan was to go out controlled and make a decision towards the second half based on what was in the cards today.

“Overall, I’m heading in the right direction for the rest of the year both from a physical fitness perspective and me getting better at managing my effort in races and making better decisions.

“I’m happy with how the weekend went, especially the mile and the half marathon. For the mile, since it’s not a distance I usually do, I didn’t know what exactly to expect but went out and held on for as long as I could, which resulted in a good effort.

“On Saturday I wasn’t feeling too great and ended up slowing down in the second half to try and save myself a bit for the half on Sunday.”