Dame Flora Duffy may have again proved herself the best of the bunch but the 2022 Bermuda Triathlon Association Awards featured plenty of the sport’s brightest talents.

While Duffy was named Elite Female Triathlete of the year and Tyler Smith picked up the elite male award, some of the island’s most committed amateurs were also honoured.

Maddie Durkin was the main recipient at the event, which was held at Thyme in Paget, picking up the champion female awards for the sprint and olympic distances as well as the coveted honour of female triathlete of the year.

Durkin, 41, has had a fantastic year in competition and is a regular at the top of leaderboard in most long-distance races in Bermuda with her latest victory coming in the Hannover Re Half Marathon last weekend, and she was delighted to be rewarded for her efforts.

“It was obviously great to be recognised for the work I’ve put in through the year and it was wonderful to celebrate not just my successes but the success of the whole triathlon team. It’s always good to have a year-end party,” Durkin said.

Despite triathlon being very much a lonely sport, especially during competition, Durkin is keen to emphasise that there is very much a triathlon community on island.

“Triathlon is an individual sport in the sense that everyone follows their own schedule and training plans with individuals signing up for their own races throughout the year,” Durkin said.

“It’s definitely a single-person effort but there is definitely a sense of team and camaraderie. Everyone comes together and supports each other, compares notes and training partners are always in existence. For example, sometimes there is a four-hour bike ride that somebody has to do and they need support from a team-mate or friend and somebody will always jump in so that’s it’s not a long-haul solo ride. There is definitely a sense of team and family, it’s a wonderful sport to be a part of.”

Durkin has had a miraculous rise to prominence locally after competing in Ironman World Championships after only taking up the sport at the age of 36 just a few years ago.

“I think people forget or don’t know that I only started exercising four years ago,” she said. “I was a child athlete and really quite unhealthy for my adult life and then I had babies here and I needed to have an outlet. I realised that probably when I was about 36.

“I found the sport four years ago but I’m also doing it now to show my nine-year-old what a wonderful sport it is and I’m hoping she continues to be interested in it. You go to these dinners and you have your peer group but you are also surrounded by young children who are keen and trying to follow in Flora Duffy’s footsteps, which is really fun to see.”

While Durkin has savoured plenty of victories this year, it’s pretty clear that the win on home soil a day before Duffy’s World Triathlon Championship Series win in Bermuda is one that remains close to her heart

“I did a couple of half-ironmans this year and I did pretty well but It’s hard going away for a race with jetlag and mechanical issues and not feeling in top form so I would say that the local race here, racing in front of my peers and my community was definitely the highlight.”

With 2022 now on the way out, there are plenty of 2023 targets on the horizon with a venture into the unknown on the cards next month.

“The target for next year will probably be to run a marathon,” Durkin said. “I’ve never run one before so in the last week I’ve decided to do that. Doing the Hannover Re Half Marathon, I thought I did well enough that I would try to run a marathon locally in January [PwC Bermuda Marathon, Sunday January 15]. I’ve just started my training now and that’s nearly eight weeks out but I think I have enough in my legs to at least finish standing up.”

Away from Durkin, there were plenty of other triathlon award winners with Alex Waldauer winning male triathlete of the year and being named champion over the Olympic distance and Alex Pilgrim winning the award for sprint distances.

Jamie Bedford and Jackson Langley were joint-best junior male triathlete with dual Carifta Games gold medallist Fenella Wightman best junior female.

Marc Anthony Domingo and Catherine Maddever were named best newcomers with Dustin Luck and Leanna Coetzee the most improved over the course of the year.

Marie Lynn Dore picked up the Peter Grayston Special Achievement award with Will Green winning the John Buchanan Club Person of the Year and Sharon Craig going home with the Jim Butterfield Long service award.