Gymshark’s ‘The Jacket Patch’ activation with ‘Grime Gran’ and ‘Spud Man’ refuels Hyrox athletes

Over the weekend, Gymshark set up an activation called ‘The Jacket Patch’ at Frank’s Sandwich Bar on Addison Bridge Place in West London, providing free jacket potatoes to Hyrox athletes who had been competing at London Olympia opposite.

The ‘carbs reloading’ hub saw athletes served jacket potatoes with a range of toppings - including Gymshark’s special chicken, rice, and broccoli-filled option - by ‘Grime Gran’ Margie Keefe, 86, who has 300k Instagram and 170k TikTok followers, and ‘Spud Man’ Ben Newman, who has 4.2 million TikTok followers and is described as “Britain’s most famous potato vendor”.

Both Grime Gran, who “became a global cultural moment” when she explained jacket potatoes to Kim Kardashian on Capital FM, and Spud Man were present, serving across all three days from 27-29 March.

Hyrox finishers also had the opportunity to get their hands on Gymshark’s unreleased ‘Conditioning Club Patch Jacket’, a new performance jacket featuring velcro sleeves on which racers can mount and show off their coveted Hyrox race patches, with 20% off on the day (RRP £65). Surprise free jackets were also gifted to finishers throughout the weekend.

Last year, Hyrox events saw over 600,000 competitors globally, up 200k from the year before, while this year organizers were expecting around one million competitors worldwide.

The Hyrox London event was extended from two to six days (24-29 March) this year, with over 50,000 athletes taking part - including Gymshark athlete and Hyrox World Champion Sinéad Bent, who set a new European and British record.

The Jacket Patch activation follows Gymshark’s ‘Londrette’ pop-up last year, a retro “laundrette meets tailor’s shop” right across from Hyrox London, where finishers could flash their wristband, grab exclusive Gymshark merch, and get their race badge stitched on by in-house ‘tailors’.

Noel Mack, Chief Brand Officer at Gymshark  said: “Gymshark exists for people who do gym. And people who do gym work hard, really hard. Months of early mornings, sacrificed weekends, showing up when nobody's watching. And then the (Hyrox) race is over in roughly 90 minutes.

“We thought that deserved more than a social post. So, we showed up at the finish line to give those people a moment, with the two best people we know for the job, Grime Gran and Spud Man.”