Flora Duffy’s winning streak ended at three on Saturday when she finished fourth in the ITU PATCO Pan American Championships in Irving, Texas.

The Bermudian, who is switching her focus to qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, completed the course in 2hr 0min 17sec to get through just behind a crack trio in front of her. Adriana Barraza, of Mexico, won the race in 1:59:41, followed by American Jessica Broderick in 1:59:51 and Anahi Leon, another Mexican, in 2:00:08.

Duffy, unlike during her sensational run win the off-trail XTERRA Series on three continents, was adjudged the sixteenth woman out of the water in 19:28, although she was only two seconds behind the ultimate winner, who was eighth in the 1,500-metre swim.

On to a regulation bike for the first time in what seems an age, Duffy made up significant ground over the 40-kilometre circuit. She was the third-fastest in the field with 1:01:38, which took her past Anahi.

However, it was on the run where the Mexicans and Broderick got the better of the two-times Olympian, who will be in action next for Bermuda at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next month.

Duffy’s rivals had the second, third and fourth-fastest times on the ten-kilometre run, with the Bermudian clocking 38:14.

Tyler Smith and Erica Hawley, two of the Island’s brightest triathlon prospects, were also in Dallas for the event and competed in the 16-19 age group, having plied their trade almost exclusively in the 13-15 category.

Smith was 44th out of 52 finishers in 1:00:15, while Hawley was 39th out of 43 in 1:10:11. Hawley completed the 750-metre swim in 9:45, the 20km bike in 34:32 and the 5km run in 23:58. Smith’s splits were not available.

Meanwhile, in South Africa today, two Bermuda runners completed the Comrades Marathon, an 89km ultra race from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. Calvin Steede finished in a time of 10hr 42min 33sec, placing 686th in the men’s 50-and-over category. Sara Farrar clocked a time of 11:09:58, crossing the finish line 505th in her 40-49 age group. There were more than eight thousand finishers.