This year's edition of Southern Games, which kick off at 2 p.m. today at Guaracara Park in Pointe-a-Pierre, has all the prospect of being a hotly-contested and competitive affair.

The annual two-day track and field extravaganza will see competitors from USA, Jamaica, Barbados, Bahamas, Canada, Kenya, Guyana, St Kitts and Trinidad and Tobago (T&T).

T&T's challenge will be spearheaded by three Olympians; Darrel Brown, Jehue Gordon and Michelle Lee Ahye, who will all be trying to lower the colours of their foreign counterparts.

Lee Ahye will have to contend with Shayla Mahan of the USA, who has a personal best of 11.20 seconds over 100 metres, and who returned times of 11.54 and 23.87 seconds in capturing the 100m and 200m, respectively, at last year's Southern Games.

An interesting contest on the card will be the renewal of rivalry between Gordon and the USA's Sharif Webb. The American middle distance runner produced a one minute, 52:01 clocking to win last year's 800 metre event with Gordon having to settle for third in 1:54:13. Webb has produces a 1.47.19 outdoor clocking over 800m in 2011.

Another athlete to keep an eye on is Kenya's Barnabas Kirui. Last year the Kenyan dominated the men's open 5,000m event in a time of 15:08:00 with Cleveland Forde of Guyana, who is the mix once again, well held in second.

Cycling, which got underway on Thursday in Marabella, will also be in the spotlight today as the local team comprising of Varun Maharajh, Joshua Alexander, Rudy Ashton, Gevan Samuel, Akil Campbell, Haseem McLean and Azikiwe Kellar, seek to dominate a star studded list of international riders.