After a week of indecision, Karen Smith has decided to compete in tomorrow's SheRox Triathlon in Southampton.

The Bermuda triathlete had been looking forward to putting her feet up for the winter following he impressive display in the Hawaii Ironman last month, but has opted to take part in the women's only event

Smith is likely to be the only local triathlete to take part, with Karen Bordage and Flora Duffy both staying away.

"I've been back and forth, back and forth all week," said Smith. "But I think I'll try and get out there and try it. The timing of the event right now . . . after finishing up with Hawaii, I called an end to my season and wasn't looking to do anymore racing for the rest of year.

"I was looking forward to some down time.

"But then I figured, it's here and we don't get a lot of events, so I might as well participate."

A little late in the year for the majority of the Island's triathletes, the women-only event has attracted plenty of overseas competitors, drawn to the relatively warm temperatures compared to the US where the SheRox series is based.

"It's very late in the year to do this," said Smith. "The timing's tough because the weather in November is always changeable. It can be perfectly sunny and warm and a beautiful day for it (racing) or it can be quite cold and breezy. But I suppose the attraction is that it's warm compared to the US.

"This time of the year weather is an issue, but also for most people (in Bermuda) the season is ending in October because we start so early, we start in May, so we have a full six, seven months of racing. It's hard to keep it going sometimes.

"You put so much into the training all year, sometimes you just need to sit back and catch up on stuff you've missed out on."

Given the time of year, and the sprint format of the triathlon, Smith isn't going to be putting too much pressure on herself to perform. Trained for the longer Ironman, Smith faces a much shorter SheRox – an 0.8k swim, a 20k bike ride, and a 5k run.

"It's a very different to what I have trained for, it's a very short, sprint event," said Smith. "I've trained all year for long Ironman events, so going into this, it's a short, hard, kind of race.

"I'm not really trained for that kind of thing, I'm more for the long haul, it's like asking a marathon runner to do a 5k.

"I don't know what's going to happen on Sunday, I usually need five or six hours to warm-up before I can do anything. So this will just be a fun thing for me, I'll go out and enjoy it and not really worry too much about the outcome.

"It's just really about participating and being part of an event for women in Bermuda."