Flora Duffy has been invited to take part in the exclusive Island House Invitational Triathlon in Bahamas next weekend.

Featuring 20 of the world’s best triathletes, the race takes place over three days, combines short course speed with longcourse endurance, and has a total prize purse of $500,000.

Duffy, who defends her Xterra World Championship title in Maui on Sunday, has been invited to compete in the women’s race against the likes of Gwen Jorgensen, the WTS World Champion, and Mirinda Carfrae, the Ironman World Champion.

“Excited to announce I’ll be racing in the @islandhousetri next weekend! From Maui to the Bahamas! Excited!” Duffy posted on her Instagram account.

As well as Duffy, other notable inclusions are Rachel Klamer, of the Netherlands, who finished a place ahead of the Bermuda triathlete in sixth in the WTS season, and Alicia Kaye, of Canada, who won the 70.3 races in Boulder and Calgary this year.

In the men’s division, Javier Gomez, the WTS World Champion, will race against a field including Tim O’Donnell, who was third in the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii this year.

The Island House Triathlon, which runs from November 6 to 8, is a unique race which will include time trials, and has adopted the cycling model of awarding prizes for swim, bike and run times, as well as an overall classification prize.

The race begins on Friday, November 6 with the ITT Prologue in Nassau, and features a 500m swim, an 8-kilometre bike ride, and a 2k run. On Saturday the race switches to Highbourne Cay, for the Olympic Enduro stage, a draft legal race with three loops of a course that includes a 500m swim, 13k bike ride and 3.3k run.

The final stage takes place on the Sunday, and is a sprint triathlon with a 750m swim, 20k bike ride and 5k run.

The idea for the race came from talks between Mark Holowesko, who owns The Island House hotel in the Bahamas and sponsors several professional athletes. Holowesko wanted to make a bigger impact in the sport, while also putting the Bahamas in the spotlight.

Luke McKenzie, the race co-director, said: “I’ve always wanted to create an event similar to the enduro format that excited me so much as a spectator and racer in the 1990s. After talking with Mark [Holowesko], we realised that by working together, we could make it happen in a really amazing way.”