Every year 1,200 very fit and very athletic people gather on Lanzarote for the Ironman Canarias Lanzarote Triathlon, which is an official qualifying competition for the Ironman Triathlon World Championship on Hawaii.

The gruelling course includes swimming, cycling and running, in the intense heat and arid landscape of Lanzarote. Every athlete who wishes to participate in the Ironman Triathlon World Championship has to qualify, and sixty people will make it.

The event commences from a transition area near Hotel Fariones Playa with a 3.8 km swim in the sea just off the coast.

Then the athlets don their cycle helmet for a 180km cycling event leaving from Puerto del Carmen and travelling through Puerto Calero, Yaiza, El Golfo, Timanfaya, Tinajo, Teguise, Tias, then snaking it's way back to Puerto del Carmen.

The athletes are then tested more, with a 42.2km run, four x 10km loops of Puerto Del Carmen.

2010 Winners were Basque triathlete Eneko Llanos. The the women’s title was won by Scottish athlete Catrina Morrison.

The next Ironman Lanzarote Triathlon takes place on 21 May 2011 at 7am in Puerto del Carmen. Registration is now open, but be quick, there are only 1,500 places available.