Newmarket-based fitness guru Ben Blowes is set to launch a new state-of-the-art training centre in the town.
The Shark Tank HYROX, on the Goodwin Business Park, in Willie Snaith Road, will open on Saturday from noon when visitors can see for themselves the new fitness phenomenon which has swept the world in the past five years.
HYROX is technically a race, now taking place in cities all over Europe and North America, where contestants take part in a gruelling series of eight 1k runs interspersed with eight different fitness stations.
Training facilities like Ben’s, which is affiliated to the German company which founded HYROX, are set up to offer the challenge of the sport without the competition.
“It’s something anyone can do,” said Ben. “What people seem to like about it is predictable. They can come in and know exactly what they will be doing and about how long it will take.
mpu1
“People just can’t get enough of it and I think it’s partly because it covers a lot of the basic movements the human body is designed to do and appeals to quite a primal instinct,” he said.
The Shark Tank was a huge empty warehouse when Ben took it over and kitted it out to accommodate HYROX as well as changing rooms, toilets and showers.
Saturday’s open day will offer the chance to talk to Ben and other trained coaches about HYROX, which includes among its workouts a 1K SkiErg, a cross-county skiing simulator, at which Ben holds the world record for 24 hours.
Other workout stations include 50m sled pulls and pushes, 80m burpee broad jumps, 1,000m rowing, 200m kettle bell carry, 100m weighted lunges and a giant medicine ball target throw.
More details are available on the website at www.thesharktank.co.uk
Ben is already making a name for himself in the HYROX community, having finished 11th in the 50-54 age group in the recent world championships in Nice.
He is well-known for completing endurance challenges for charity, such as running 30 marathons in 30 days in 2020, 100 miles in 24 hours in 2022, plus a London Marathon with a tumble drier on his back.
Ben’s new HYROX venture will run alongside his established Vivo outdoor classes, which are held in Kennett, Moulton and on The Severals in Newmarket.