Why are Basque such strong endurance athletes?
The running abilities of the Basques over at least the last 500 years is evident. Obviously living in a mountainous and demanding environment for almost certainly thousands of years has developed great endurance capabilities among the Basque people. Juan Cruz Azpiroz, the Korrikalari who had run against Gordon Pirie was tested by the German physiologists Woldemar Gerschler and Hans Raindell at Freiburg University in 1956. The originators of the system of interval training and specialists in the development of the cardiovascular system, Gerschler and Raindell were amazed at Azpiroz’s capacities. He had extraordinary strength. Usually he combined the sports of the aizkolari (wood-chopping) and korrikalari in the bull ring of Tolosa, Gipuzkoa. In 1963, he cut twenty trunks of 54 cm and then ran 20 kilometers, in only 2 hours, 38 minutes and 36 seconds! The Basque cyclist Miguel Indurain, five time winner of the Tour de France, was born in Villava, Navarra which historically was part of th
