By Gemma Fraser
Head of content
A former police officer who suffers from work-related PTSD completed the Hyrox global fitness competition in riot gear to raise awareness of mental health issues faced by blue light workers.
While most Hyrox athletes remove items of clothing before beginning the gruelling test of endurance, Michael Turner (pictured above) piled on a 10kg weighted vest, overalls, hydration vest, balaclava, and a public order helmet before taking to the Glasgow arena.
Hyrox has become one of the most popular global fitness competitions in recent years, with competitors completing a total of 8km of running in between eight workout stations.
Turner’s unusual choice of clothing for the event at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) – which saw more than 40,000 competitors take part over four days – raised not only a few eyebrows, but awareness of an issue close to his heart.
“It wasn’t until two days before that I decided to wear all that gear,” Turner told 1919.
“The only ticket I got for Hyrox was a charity spot so I thought maybe I’ll do it dressed in all my police gear to raise awareness for men’s mental health and PTSD.”
After spending 15 years working in the Metropolitan Police, Turner transferred to Police Scotland and was based in the north-east.
But trauma from his days working in the Met’s public order unit surfaced, and he was diagnosed with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and subsequently retired due to ill-health.
“When I was in the Met I was dealing with loads of stuff every day. High profile, high paced, and I never really got debriefed properly,” Turner said.
“The first big one was the [soldier] Lee Rigby killing, then there were the riots, there was the London Bridge attack.
“Pulling people off train tracks, putting bodies back together. It just starts to compile and compile and compile and there was a lot of stress and trauma that wasn’t dealt with.
“The topping to the cake was Keith Palmer, the PC who got killed in parliament. He was part of my team and had gone on to work for the diplomatic protection group.
“It was getting closer and closer, and I thought sooner or later it’s going to be me. I didn’t know at the time I was suffering the effects of it all.”
Turner struggled to get the support he needed due to the combination of suffering his breakdown during Covid, and the complex nature of his PTSD.
However, after some “dark days”, he turned a corner and was able to shift his attention to his love of fitness and ambitions to open up a CrossFit gym, which he now runs in Lossiemouth, Moray.
Through his gym community, he learned about the death by suicide of Royal Navy veteran and CrossFit coach McCoy Turner on March 8 after a long battle with complex PTSD.
It was this tragedy which made the decision to take the Hyrox charity spot an easy one, opting to raise funds for Reorg, which supports the wellbeing of those working in the military and emergency services.
“It was the same sort of thing I was medically retired for, there were people in my gym who knew him and I thought maybe now’s the time to do something like this,” Turner said.
“It gave me a kick up the bum. There are people still out there suffering. On the outside, he was in great shape, he was living in Bali, seemed like he had it all. But that’s always the way.
“It spurred me on to do it, and it got me round.”
Turner completed the course in one hour and 54 minutes – an impressive time given he was weighed down by all the riot gear.
But despite his exhaustion, after he finished he then went on to complete the course again as a pair – but this time in shorts and t-shirt.
“The burpees were not fun. Those and the lunges were hard. All of it was hard in the end but it was just abut trying to pace it so as to not cramp up.
“I couldn’t wait to take the gear off. I’m proud that I’ve done it – but I won’t be doing it again.”