Flora Duffy continued her good run of form by virtually lapping the field to win the XTERRA West Championship in Lake Las Vegas yesterday.

The 26-year-old Bermudian, who is coming off a successful three-month stint in South Africa, made a cracking start on the American circuit against some decent names.

She covered the 1.5-kilometre swim, 28.2km mountain bike and 10km trail run in 2hr 25min 48sec, more than 11 minutes clear of Emma Garrard in 2:37:06. Shonny Vanlandingham was third in 2:37:59, Suzie Snyder fourth in 2:38:24 and Chantell Widney fifth in 2:39:14.

“Today went very well,” Duffy told The Royal Gazette last night. “I was excited to race because I’ve been riding my mountain bike quite a lot recently, particularly over the winter while I was in South Africa.

“I’m still very new to XTERRA racing, so I never really know what to expect.

“Every race is a learning experience, luckily today everything went to plan. The course was not too technical, with a lot of climbing so it played into my strengths.

“The run was also very hilly so, again, it suited me. I have good form right now, but sometimes the trickiest part of the race is executing it, and today was my day.

“I’m very pleased to start my US XTERRA season off with a win.”