Flora Duffy finished an impressive fourth in the professional women’s division at the Life Time South Beach Triathlon in Florida yesterday.

Competing in her first triathlon since winning the Totalsports South African Xterra Championship in February, Duffy was seventeenth overall in a time of 2hr 6min 10.95sec.

Duffy said that she delighted with her performance, considering that she was competing in such a strong field.

“I’m very pleased with how the race went today in Miami,” Duffy said. “It was my first non-draft race of the year and I didn’t know what to expect, plus the field was really strong. Luckily, the race went well. I had a very good swim, decent bike, where I did lose a few places and had some work to do on the run.

“I think that fourth is a positive start to the season.”

Sara Haskins, from Clermont, Florida, won the women’s division in a time 2:01:59.55, with Helle Frederiksen and Alicia Kaye, both from Clermont, second and third in 2:02:34.04 and 2:05:08.10 respectively.

The overall winner was Cameron Dye, of Colorado, who finished in 1:51:56.89, well clear of Greg Bennett, in 1:53:29.69, and Michael Poole, in 1:54:00.52.

Duffy will be in action again next weekend in the Xterra Lake Las Vegas race.