Guernsey is fit enough to host ‘Tornado Race’

Storm Force Fitness owner Jon Le Tocq is preparing to host his big Tornado Race on Sunday 27 April, having received a grant from the Tourism Management Board to develop this style of racing in the island.

He is bringing a ‘Guernsey spin’ on Hyrox, which has taken the fitness world by storm with its challenging but accessible combination of running and functional workout stations, enticing thousands of competitors to compete on the global circuit.

The first Tornado Race will be on a more modest scale, tasking up to 100 competitors with 5.4km of total running and seven workout challenges, all in and around the Peninsula Hotel – where the conference room will provide a spectator-friendly arena.

Le Tocq will be looking to build bigger events in the future and strengthen Guernsey sports tourism by doing so.

‘There’s a lot of stuff Guernsey has that you won’t get anywhere else,’ he said.

‘This whole sports tourism thing, I’ve always thought it’s a major opportunity if everybody can work together ... I think they’re doing the right thing of partly handing this over to the private sector and saying, “We’ll help you out if you can create these events that people will come over for”.

‘The Island Games was a big catalyst to that. People saw that people will come over if there’s something attractive to come over for. So how can we build that up?’

Le Tocq’s future plans include expanding the event to take place over multiple days, rather than a single race, so visitors get more out of their trip.

‘I think that’s likely to be a bit more attractive to people coming over,’ he added.

‘You can go for the weekend, get to know people a bit better, and see the island.’

Aiming to balance challenge and accessibility for his inaugural Tornado Race, he added: ‘I’m trying to make it attractive to a lot of people – not just the 10 fittest people in the island.’