PROVIDENCIALES—TURKS AND CAICOS—MONDAY, APRIL 232007—The Turks and Caicos Tourist Board is pleased to announce the return of ESPN’s Billfishing Extreme Release League (BXRL) challenge to Turks and Caicos May 25th-27 th.

Now in its seventh season, the BXRL series is hosted by Captain Norm Isaacs and is the longest-running originally made-for-television billfishing series. While this will be the second time Turks and Caicos is apart of the tour, local tourism officials are already expressing their excitement with the series return.

“We are pleased to have the BXRL series return to the Turks and Caicos” said Ralph Higgs, the Director of Tourism (Marketing). “We are confident, this eventwill not only showcase the superb fishing experience that can be found in the Turks and Caicos but it will also persuade everyone from the casual fishing enthusiasts to the serious sports fisherman --to come to our islands and enjoy our award winning beaches and resorts, world class snorkeling and scuba diving as well as our friendly people.''

As its name suggest, the Billfishing Xtreme Release League series is a challenging tour, where anglers, must prove their ability to attempt to catch, tag and release various species of billfish under a concise set of rules. In addition to points awarded to determine winners of each event, points are also accumulated over the course of the season and totaled to decide the overall series champion.

This year BXRL potential total prize money to be won is $2.9 million, up from $1.4 million last season. Last year Team Galati prevailed for the championship series prize of $500,000 that is now $1 million.

The 2007 BXRL tournament got underway on March 30th in Marathon Florida and heads to Bimini, Bahamas April 28th – 30th. Following the Turks and Caicos event the tour travels to St. Martin, Lesser Antilles June 22-24, to Tortola, British Virgin Islands Jul20-22 and then on to the Dominican Republic, Hispaniola August 17-19.

ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American cable television network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming 24 hours a day. The event appeared on ESPN 2 in early 2007, and the Tourist Board anticipates excellent coverage for the Turks and Caicos Islands through its partnership with such a well-established media giant.

For additional information on the Billfishing Xtreme Release League competition or about the Turks and Caicos contact the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board at (649) 946-4970 or on their web at www.turksandcaicostourism.com