Heleen Bij De Vaate

Professional Triathlete

Heleen was a multi-sport athlete before becoming a pro triathlete. If she wasn’t playing volleyball, tennis or speedskating in her native Holland, she was riding her bike in high school from Creil to Emmeloord and back (2×15 km per day) which she considers as her first endurance training.

Her first shot at the Hawaii Ironman, Heleen came in 13th in a pool of women who trained full-time as triathletes. Heleen, at the time, was working as an engineer and could not devote all hours to training. This changed in 2007 as she went for it all – and it paid off! She came in 2nd place in Ironman Florida and took her first Ironman Championship in Arizona. In 2009 she was besieged by injuries and she would rather forget this year but her comeback was sweet. Heleen took 9th in Hawaii amongst the world’s best.

Heleen has now moved to France and continues to train around the world in the quest to finish her 2011 season off strong with her goal of finishing in the top 5 in Hawaii.

Extreme Endurance is proud to be one of Heleen’s sponsors and are hoping she comes back to train with us again in the Arizona sunshine!