Flora Duffy will defend her XTerra World Championship title this Sunday November 1st in Maui, Hawaii.
Duffy has been virtually unbeatable in off road triathlon for three years and has already taken the 2015 International Triathlon Union Cross Triathlon Championships in Italy on September 26th 2015 where she beat perennial rival Barbara Riveros by almost 4 minutes.
Last year Duffy dominated the field in Maui but she will likely face a stiffer challenge this year from
Scotland’s Lesley Paterson, a world class mountain biker and strong runner, was the 2011 and 2012 XTerra World Champion and was 2nd in 2013 before a bout of Lymes Disease sidelined her for most of 2014. However, she has come back with a vengeance in 2015 having convincingly won both the US West and SouthEast XTerra Championships and the Costa Rica XTerra event, races Duffy either chose to miss or missed because of injury. At the West Championships she was just 10 minutes behind male winner, the talented Brandon Rakita.
Chile’s Barbara Riveros was 2nd last year to Duffy by quite a margin but on her day can certainly challenge Duffy for overall honors.
Others to watch are Emma Garrard of the USA and European XTerra champion, Renata Bucher.
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