Jonathan Torchia
Jonathan’s first love: football. After 9 years in the sport, he realized that needed to leave that dream to pursue something bigger. Jonathan decided that he needed to fine tune some areas of his life, including his health. He began his own journey and lost 65 pounds. This inspired him to try something new…enter running! He ran his first Half Marathon 4 years ago and has since completed over two dozen Half Marathons, 3 Full Marathons and a handful of Triathlons. After his Grandfather passed from a stroke, Jonathan was inspired to start his own race, with all proceeds going directly to The Heart & Stroke Foundation. Understanding that running can impact a persons life in so many ways, whether its accomplishing a goal, fundraising, helping others, getting healthy or simply doing it for the fun of it. The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Half Marathon |10km |5km had its inaugural year in 2012 hosting over 1,600 runners and donating $25,000 to the foundation. It was only a 500 person pipe dream and has grown within the community. In 2013 the event grew immensely, hitting 2,200+ runners and donating $50,000 to the foundation. 2014’s was the biggest yet in October 2014, hosting 2,500+ and donating $60,000 to The Heart&Stroke Foundation. Jonathan’s passion is alive in impacting others and inspiring them to do something that they haven’t done before or thought was even possible. This has been the main contribution to the success of the now 2nd largest running event in Manitoba! Aside from running and event planning, he works as a Paramedic for the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service. When not working or training, you can find him hanging out with his family, traveling, working on his side business (Code Blue First Aid CPR training), leading run clubs or chilling at home.