Flora Duffy added another achievement to her glittering triathlon career by winning the Xterra Championship for a record-breaking fourth successive time in Kapalua, Maui, yesterday.

The Bermudian moves ahead of English triathlete Julie Dibens, who held the crown from 2007 to 2009, to become the first woman to claim four Xterra titles.

Duffy lived up to her billing as red-hot favourite, clocking a time of 2hr 47min 48sec to finish a staggering nine minutes ahead of runner-up Barbara Riveros, of Chile. Laura Philipp, of Germany, completed the podium as the only other woman to finish under three hours.

Duffy, who has been competing in the earthier off-road form of triathlon since 2013, was in no mood to relinquish her vice-like grip on the “Valley Isle”, leading from start to finish.

“It was a hard day out there as always,” Duffy told the Xterra website. “I led from the start out of the swim and it’s really difficult to know where everybody else is. I had to rely on a few time-splits, but they’re never quite accurate.

“I just kept pushing today and tried to stay mentally positive.”

Duffy expressed her surprise that Scotland’s Lesley Paterson, last year’s runner-up and the winner in 2011 and 2012, missed out on a podium finish. Paterson, 37, came fifth in a time of 3:06:02.

“Lesley is such a tough competitor and is usually right up there,” added Duffy, who was adorned with the traditional Hawaiian headdress and garland after crossing the finish line.

“She usually comes charging on the bike, but this course is really hard and brutal and anything can happen out there. Even the best suffer.”

Duffy had splits of 19:15 for the 1.5-kilometres, 1:41:01 for the 32km bike and 45:08 for the 10½-kilometres run. The 30-year-old, who secured a second successive ITU World Triathlon Series title at the Grand Final in Rotterdam last month, is no stranger to setting records this season.

She recorded the widest winning margin in the WTS history, when she beat Katie Zaferes, of the United States, by 1:51 in Yokohama in May, and followed that by defeating Ashleigh Gentle, of Australia, by 31 seconds in Hamburg two months later for the widest winning margin in a sprint race.

Duffy has one race remaining this year, the Island House Triathlon in Nassau, Bahamas, on November 17 and 18.