Oct 18
My American colleagues are forever mocking me for the amount of national holidays we get in Bermuda. We take the British ones, the American ones, have plenty ourselves and the island’s government are not immune to inventing the random one for good measure.
Nonetheless days off are not to be sniffed at, and we have one today to celebrate Bermuda’s first ever Olympic gold medal won by triathlete Flora Duffy in Tokyo. 🏊♀️🚴♀️🏃🏼♀️🥇
Please click for moreThere have been a lot of very fit looking people mixing with many slightly larger cruise ship tourists walking around Hamilton these last few days. The antithesis is breathtaking, or out of breath depending on which one they were.
54 men and 47 women will take part in Saturday’s World Triathlon Series, the second in the season’s calendar. Last year was the first time Bermuda had been a host for the ITU’s World Series, and homecoming queen Flora Duffy swept to victory to much delight.
Next on my personal Top Five’s from 2018 are right here on my doorstep. Bermuda is not the place to come for big restaurant openings, star-studded theatre, cool music concerts, cutting edge art shows or world class museums, it’s so much simplier here. The outdoors, the beach, the ocean.
I gave it some thought and these are My Top Five Favourite Bermuda Things from last year:
The weather held and although the sun didn’t shine on Flora Duffy the whole of Bermuda did as thousands lined Hamilton’s streets yesterday afternoon to witness just what a phenomenal athlete the Bermudian born triathlete is.
The World Triathlon Series (WTS) came to these shores for the first time and Bermuda excelled in hosting the event as two-time champion Duffy underlined her dominance by becoming the first woman in WTS history to win a race after being the leader in all three disciplines of swim, bike and run.
Following the huge success of last summer’s America Cup, Bermuda became much more desirable as a destination for sporting events, particularly those that involve the water.
This weekend the World Triathlon Series comes to Bermuda, the first of three years that the Island will feature in the international calendar. Undoubtedly world number one Fiona Duffy was one of the driving forces behind the International Triathlon Union’s (ITU) decision to move their elite athlete showcase here. Other locations on the 6 month calendar include Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Yokohama, Hamburg and Nottingham with the finale back in Australia’s Gold Coast where Fiona Duffy just won Commonwealth gold.
I like the Commonwealth Games, it gives lesser nations and athletes a chance on a big stage. Bermuda has only ever won one medal at an Olympics, and five at a Commonwealth Games, the last being a bronze in ten-pin bowling in 1998. Luckily for the rest of the Commonwealth there isn’t a rum drinking contest, because they may have medalled in that as well.
Flora Duffy is the women’s world number one in triathlon, so it was no surprise that she won gold last night in the Gold Coast’s first medal final. She surprisingly missed out on a place at the last Olympics, but has emerged as the world’s best since winning the last two ITU world titles, and despite the weight of 63,000 Bermudians on her strong shoulders she romped home 43 seconds ahead of England’s Jessica Learmonth to claim gold.
Chicago Addick 