If you’re a professional or semi-pro athlete, no matter what your discipline, you may find yourself having to dig pretty deep for motivation in order to keep up a regular training regimen over winter. But if you want to stay in the running (so to speak!) keeping at the peak of your physical fitness is a no-brainer, so slacking off just because it’s cold, dark and raining isn’t an option.

It doesn’t have to be so hard, though, and many athletes and their coaches are waking up to the huge physical and mental benefits of taking off to Europe for some warm weather training during the UK winter. It’s amazing what a little sun can do to boost your enthusiasm, and many of these sporting complexes are purpose built for international athletics training – often affording the opportunity to train in state-of-the-art facilities with top-notch equipment.

Malta, Cyprus, and The Canary Islands are just three tempting sun-drenched locations where you can get in some warm weather track and field training.