Windhoek’s popularity grows as top training base

THE Netherlands’ national triathlon and para-teams are currently in Windhoek on a three-week training camp in preparation for the upcoming international triathlon season.

Windhoek’s altitude of 1 700m makes it the perfect setting for high altitude training, where it forces athletes’ bodies to get used to low levels of oxygen, with the aim of increasing their endurance.
The Dutch teams are just the latest of numerous other European teams and individuals who have been training in Windhoek in recent years to gain a competitive edge.

Famous athletes who have been here over the past few years include the Dutch 5 000m and 10 000m Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Sifan Hassan, and the Belgian cyclist Victor Campenaerts, who broke the one hour cycling world record with a distance of 55,089km in 2019.
Last month another Dutch coach, Grete Koens trained with her middle and long distance athletes in Windhoek, while the German triathlon team is also currently training in Windhoek. The national Dutch triathlon coach, Jelmer van Waveren, said Windhoek’s high altitude had a lot of benefits for their athletes. “The reason we are here is because of the altitude, which is 1 700m here, while in the Netherlands we live at sea level, so it has a lot of benefits for us to train here at high altitude. We will be here for three and a half weeks and then we’ll go back and see if it brings us any success,” he said.

“The first time we came here was about four or five years ago – we had previously gone to train in Potchefstroom in South Africa but then we couldn’t go back so we were looking for a new place and then we found Windhoek. It’s really good here, because we have all the facilities we need, the people are so nice and the country is lovely, so it’s really a good place to stay,” he added.

The Dutch training group includes two elite triathletes who narrowly missed out on Olympic medals – Rachel Klamer, who came fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, and Richard Murray, who also came fourth at the Rio Olympics, while their mixed four-person triathlon team also came fourth in Tokyo. Besides them, there are six other up-and-coming u23 triathletes training in Windhoek for whom they have high hopes. “We left with six athletes, but one returned to Europe yesterday because he crashed on his bike and broke his wrist. But we have five more talented athletes here who will maybe one day qualify for the Olympics, that is the ultimate goal,” Van Waveren said.

He recommended Windhoek as an excellent high–altitude training base.
“It’s a really good place to train, it’s easy going, and it’s really doable. If it’s only cycling, it’s probably too much of the same, but we also have the running trails here at Farm Windhoek which is close by, and we have the swimming pool that we can use, so it’s perfect for us,” he said. Van Waveren said they had already made contact with the Namibian Triathlon Federation, while they have also competed at some local events over the past few years and said they would be willing to share their expertise with any budding local athletes.

“Absolutely, we are here for two more weeks, so if people want to get in touch with us they are more than welcome to do so.”
Van Waveren can be contacted at +264 857815964 or at jelmer.van.waveren@triathlonbond.nl

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