Europe’s Winter Triathlon Playground
- By Aaron Hersh
- Published Jan 20, 2012
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Fuerteventura: Europe's Winter Triathlon Playground
The Spanish island of Fuerteventura 50 miles off the coast of Morocco is the winter training playground for professional and amateur European triathletes and a few Americans. The town of Las Playitas is close to the resort. Both sit on this beautiful bay. Photo: Aaron Hersh For more from Feurtaventura, watch "Training Day" with the Raelert Brothers.
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Fuerteventura: Europe's Winter Triathlon Playground
The roads around the island are smooth, hilly, windy and almost free of auto traffic. Photo: Aaron Hersh
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Fuerteventura: Europe's Winter Triathlon Playground
The center of the island is mostly arid desert landscape. Photo: Aaron Hersh
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Fuerteventura: Europe's Winter Triathlon Playground
A few small towns are nestled against the sea. Photo: Aaron Hersh
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Fuerteventura: Europe's Winter Triathlon Playground
You're bound to see professional triathletes out on the roads of Feurtaventura. Nearly every guest at Playitas was an endurance athlete of some variety. Photo: Aaron Hersh
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Fuerteventura: Europe's Winter Triathlon Playground
Nothing but blue. Photo: Aaron Hersh
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Fuerteventura: Europe's Winter Triathlon Playground
The town of Pajara in the south western side of the island has a statue of a man milking a goat.
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Fuerteventura: Europe's Winter Triathlon Playground
Exposed twisting roads curve up the side of the mountains. Photo: Aaron Hersh
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Fuerteventura: Europe's Winter Triathlon Playground
Many of the athletes training in Feurtaventura come to these steady long climbs. Photo: Aaron Hersh
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Fuerteventura: Europe's Winter Triathlon Playground
Crossing from the Playitas resort on the eastern edge of the island to the western side only takes an hour or so. Photo: Aaron Hersh
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Fuerteventura: Europe's Winter Triathlon Playground
The Playitas resort on the island’s east coast is overflowing with multisport fanatics seeking idyllic training conditions during Europe’s cold winter. Playitas has a spectacular 50-meter pool on the grounds. Photo: Aaron Hersh
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Feurtaventura: Europe's Winter Triathlon Playground
The Playitas resort is simply crawling with triathletes. They are everywhere. Javier Gomez, Dirk Bockel, Caroline Steffen and Rasmus Henning were just some of the world-class triathletes taking advantage of the warm air and blue skies. Photo: Aaron Hersh
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Fuerteventura: Europe's Winter Triathlon Playground
The resort has a smooth sand beach and trails cut into the hills that surround the resort. Photo: Aaron Hersh
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Fuerteventura: Europe's Winter Triathlon Playground
Several trails around the resort go up and down the dry hills. Photo: Aaron Hersh
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Fuerteventura: Europe's Winter Triathlon Playground
The open roads around Fuerteventura are wind swept. Photo: Aaron Hersh For more from Feurtaventura, watch "Training Day" with the Raelert Brothers.
FILED UNDER: Photos TAGS: Fuertaventura / Training camp
Aaron Hersh
Aaron Hersh is the Senior Tech Editor of Triathlete magazine. Aaron writes a column every Thursday for Triathlete.com called "Ask Aaron". To submit a question, write Aaron at Askaaron@competitorgroup.com.
