Flora Duffy continued her one-woman wrecking crew of the XTERRA Series with a third straight victory today at the Southeast Championships in Pelham, Alabama.

Duffy was fourth out of the water after a 1.5-kilometre swim in 16min 9sec then steadily built on her lead before completing the course, which included a 30km mountain bike and 10km trail run, in 2:32:04.

Duffy, who is coming off wins in Las Vegas and the Asia-Pacific Championship in New South Wales, Australia, was thirteenth overall.

The next woman, Emma Garrard, from Park City, Utah, was more than four minutes behind in 2:36:05, with Suzie Snyder, from Fredericksburg, Virginia, third in 2:39:31. Christine Jeffrey, from Tucson, Arizona, was the closest woman to Duffy after the swim, her 16:16 effort providing only scant hope that she could live with the super-confident Bermudian.

Duffy has been unashamed in telling anyone that she is like a duck out of water on a mountain bike, but her results suggest otherwise, as she completed the discipline in 1hr 33min 12sec and was similarly comfortable on the run where, with 37:52 over the 10km, she surrendered a minute to Garrard.

The men’s race was won by Josiah Middaugh in 2:18:32. The native of Vail, Colorado, made up more than two minutes from the swim with a scintillating bike.

Dan Hugo, Duffy’s boyfriend, was third in the swim but dropped back to sixth overall.