YAKIMA -- Although some of the big, front-of-the-pack regulars in the Whisky Dick Triathlon's storied history aren't expected to be in the lineup this year, Sunday's 26th annual summer test of will and stamina might just look a lot like the 2007 edition.

Eight of the top 14 finishers in the 2007 race are back, including the fourth- through eighth-placers.

Fourth-placer Joshua Fitchitt of Bellevue is an accomplished Ironman triathlete and he's in great racing shape this year, having placed second out of more than 1,000 entrants in last month's Issaquah Triathlon.

The guy who finished behind him in the 2007 Whisky Dick, Ellensburg's Jesse Nye, was a mere 22 at the time -- young by triathlon standards -- and he's rapidly becoming a consistent contender. And Ladd Preppernau, also of Ellensburg, might also challenge after nearly breaking five hours in a half-Ironman race two weeks ago in Lake Stevens.

The reigning female champion, Heidi Hubler of Bonney Lake, is also back. So is perhaps her strongest challenger, Coupeville's Keri Fezzey, who has been a top-four Whisky Dick finisher in two of the last three years.

But if there's an unknown who could surprise the field, race director Vince Nethery thinks it might just be Robert Pritchett, recently hired to join the Central Washington University faculty.

A South African native and a former Division I distance runner at Western Kentucky, Pritchett is fairly new to triathlons.

"But he's a super athlete," Nethery says. "He swims fairly well, he's a very good biker and he goes uphill well, which is going to suit him well on (the Whisky Dick) course.

"And if he's anywhere within breathing distance of whoever's in the lead when he gets off the bike, I don't see anybody running as fast as he can run for almost nine miles."

The race begins at 8:30 a.m. at Vantage with a 1-mile swim in the Columbia River, followed by a 26.4-mile bicycle stage that climbs Whisky Dick Ridge and finishes at Kittitas, and then the closing 8.8-mile run that winds through Ellensburg and finishes at the gates to the Kittitas County Fairgrounds.