MANY OF THE WORLD'S top triathletes will be in Provo Monday for the Fourth of July to compete in the Heritage Mountain Triathlon. Mike Pigg, Scott Tinley, Scott Molina, Colleen Cannon, Erin Baker, the Puntous twins, Patricia and Sylviane - they're all expected to be there; which should qualify for the greatest collection of near-negative body fat in Utah since the Donner Party left for Nevada.

Besides offering some $81,800 in prizes, the event will serve as a qualifier for the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii. Not only do the distances - 1.2 miles for the swim, 29.5 miles for the bicycle race and 7.2 miles for the run - meet the Ironman qualifying standards, but the thinking is that anyone who can slug it out for 1.2 miles in Utah Lake's rather unique mixture of water and "other" is something of an ironman already.The Heritage Mountain competitors will finish the event along the Freedom Festival parade route in downtown Provo, which is a nice touch, as is the money. But, still, there has been an unhealthy side effect to the creation of Utah's newest triathlon.

As a direct result, the popular East Canyon Triathlon has a new first name. Spell it D-e-f-u-n-c-t.

East Canyon was scheduled to be held July 9, just five days after Heritage Mountain. Triathletes may like to think of themselves as indestructible racing machines - but not five days later. When Doug Beck, the new organizer of East Canyon, in conjunction with East Canyon Resort, got word of the new Heritage Mountain race, and its $200,000 budget, he canceled his T-shirt order.

The words "Heritage Mountain" may ring a bell. The ill-fated ski-resort-to-be in the mountains overlooking Provo has had one foreclosure after another. It's gone out of business more often than those car stereo stores on State Street.

Ironically, the newest saviors of Heritage Mountain - a South African couple named Victor and Suzanne Borcherds - came up with this triathlon idea as a way of improving the resort's public image. Victor Borcherds specializes in reconstructing down-and-out ventures. He bought Heritage Mountain from the bankruptcy courts and hopes to turn it around.

Borcherds is also a triathlete. He competed in the Ironman last year in Hawaii and reportedly wants to do it again. Hence, he has a personal stake in staging an Ironman Qualifier in his back yard. People with the wherewithal to do so usually buy their sports toys according to their own interests - as Gerald Bagley did with the PGA golf tournament and Larry Miller with the basketball Jazz, to name a couple of recent local examples.

There's nothing wrong with Borcherds' machinations - except for the overlapping of the Heritage Mountain event with East Canyon.