Flora's fighting fit ahead of opening World Cup race
The budding superstar will travel to Portugal today to begin final preparations for a race which will once again boast the participation of all of the world’s top female triathletes.
Only a week ago Duffy returned to England from an extended pre-season training camp not far from San Marino in Italy, where she spent up to eight hours a day preparing her body and mind for the rigorous of top-flight competition.
Having warmed up for the major assignments this year by claiming the Caribbean triathlon crown in the Dominican Republic early last month when only really half-fit, Duffy said yesterday she is relishing the prospect of battling it out with triathlon’s elite once again.
“I’m feeling pretty good I have to admit, though of course there are always a few nerves around for the first big race of the season,” she said from her base at Kelly College in the UK.
“The training camp in Italy was absolutely fantastic. It’s not very often I get to get away from it all for such an extended period of time to concentrate fully on my preparation and now that I’ve got it under my belt I feel as if I’m in a strong position to hopefully do well this year.
“I spent a lot of time on the bike in Italy because it’s probably the discipline I spend the least amount of time on generally, plus Italy is such a fantastic place to ride it was the obvious choice.
“I’d go out for a reasonable run in the morning, say for around 50 minutes or maybe an hour, then do the swim training around lunchtime and after a bit of rest go out for at least a three or four hour ride in the afternoon with a lot of hill climbing thrown in.
“The longest ride I did was six hours and it was obviously pretty tough, but all the work should stand me in good stead.
“Having had such a good year last year, there is a little bit of pressure on me to live up to that, which is probably where the nerves come in — but you definitely need the adrenaline that this creates to help you perform.”
The world number 39 has set herself the goal of coming inside the top 15 in every World Cup race she competes in this year, and though she is pretty much guaranteed a spot already, that sort of form would only further cement her place at the Bejiing Olympics next summer.
Bermuda’s female athlete of the year also recently met with the manager of a French professional team — Poissy — who have signed her up to do four sprint triathlons this season.
The sport is extremely popular and well organised in France, and the 19-year-old will be paid a fee for her services and given a new bike and a stack of free equipment.
“I’m looking forward to racing in France as well — a lot of the best girls race for French teams on top of the World Cup races so the competition will be pretty good,” he said.
“I met the manager of the French team for the first time the other day and was very impressed with him and the set-up of the team. It’s an exciting new challenge.”
