Posted: 15 October 2018

For the last few weeks Jersey has been at the centre stage of international athletics, with global media coverage beaming images of our beautiful island into homes around the world.

At the end of September the Island hosted the Super League Triathlon. Thousands of sports fans, watched the kick off of the 2018-19 Super League championship schedule, 2 days of fast-paced competition, featuring the top 50 triathletes in the world.

The following weekend the Standard Chartered Jersey Marathon saw thousands of runners taking to the Island’s roads. Hundreds of supporters and volunteer marshals lined the streets along the route and cheered every participant on their way around the course.

These international competitions have not just been for the visiting athletes from as far afield as the USA, China and Kenya to showcase their strengths and talents, but many Jersey residents have donned their lycra and trainers, and tested their fitness against the likes of the Olympian Brownlee brothers. Jersey home-grown talent Ollie Turner who, at just 19, took part in the elite races this year, actually qualified for a Super League Gold Ticket gaining him automatic entry into the remaining Super League worldwide events.

Before the professional athletes took to the Super League track, hundreds of islanders, of all ages, got the chance to run, bike and swim in the footsteps of the elites, with junior and senior amateurs and corporate team competitions. And the Marathon followed suit with a junior fun-run and a team relay taking place over the main route. The Marathon even had a competitor from ‘a galaxy far far away’ (actually local runner James Manners in disguise), who became the fastest Storm Trooper in all the galaxy, setting a new World Record with his time! The story of Luke Skywalker might have had a different ending had this Storm Trooper been chasing him!

Amazingly, in between these major events, others also took place, including Hawksford’s Castle Chase in partnership with Jersey Heritage, showcasing Jersey’s charitable and community spirit at its best. It’s exhausting just thinking about all this!

For a small island, Jersey really knows how to put on large international events so there is no need to travel far if world-class competition is your thing.

Locate Jersey was proud to be a sponsor of this year’s Super League Triathlon and even roped-in Economic Development Minister Lyndon Farnham, and two of our newcomers to the Island to take part as a ‘Corporate-Mix’ team in partnership with title sponsor Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). One of these 3 (who will remain nameless) loved his leg of the event so much on the first day that after catching up some lost time from his team’s swim, did an extra lap on the bike! Perhaps not the best for the team’s time that day, but it spurred him on to cycle extra fast (and make sure to only complete the required number of laps) on the Sunday!!

Jersey has a whole host of sporting events throughout the year in which visitors and locals alike can participate, including a very popular Park Run which regularly sees over 300 people take part each week. There are also regular club runs, the Half Marathon, the Jersey Triathlon, the Sandstorm Adventure race (ranked 11th in the Red Bull Extreme UK Fitness Challenges for 2016), the Jersey Relay and perhaps the most exciting of all (for some) being the ‘Durrell Dash’ events which regularly feature our local Jersey heart-throb, and Durrell Wildlife ambassador, Henry Cavill. Yes, even Superman flies in to pound the pavements for charity!

Jersey truly is the place to be if you love your sport, regardless if you are less of an athlete and more likely to be found in the ranks of the cheering spectators! A healthier lifestyle and a new lease of life are right on your door-step, with events all year around, mixed with our outdoor lifestyle, clean air, refreshing sea breezes and an enviable work-life balance that gives you both the time to take part and time for your family.

Jersey. For business. For Life.

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