Mail Sport Extreme: 40,000 braved the HYROX in Glasgow, less than half finished the gruelling course… and I was one of them!
What a week it was. Between the climax of the Six Nations, European football nights, derby weekend, the Carabao Cup final and, of course, the Cheltenham Festival, sports fans were spoiled for choice.
Away from the mainstream spectacles, though, HYROX returned to Glasgow for five days, with the Elite 15 — male and female — kicking off a festival of fitness at the SEC on the Wednesday night.
With over 40,000 people attending over the course of the five days — the first time any HYROX has been held for that period — it was hailed as the biggest since the inception of the sport back in 2017. In fact, Glasgow set a record for the most finishers at a HYROX event, totalling at 17,671.
HYROX has become, simply put, the must-do challenge in the fitness world over the last few years, with a number of professional sportsmen and women competing, including seven-time Fittest Woman in the World Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr.
John Terry, Sylvain Distin and Martyn Waghorn are just some professional footballers who have given it a bash, as have former boxer Ricky Burns and gymnast Max Whitlock.
Despite its intense physical challenge, competitors come in all ages and at differing levels of fitness, each running eight 1kilometre splits, interspersed with various functional stations ranging from a 1km row to 80metres of burpee broad jumps, among others. And with winners in each age group, the opportunities for success are there.
Our man Blair puts a shift in for once as he tackles the HYROX at Glasgow’s SEC
Competitors participated in a number of disciplines across five days of intense action
Just 17,671 of more than 40,000 fitness fanatics managed to finish the gruelling event
James Kelly of Australia took the men’s Elite division with a time of 53minutes 22.29secs, while Lauren Weeks of the USA set a new world record time of 55:22.15 in the women’s contest.
Seeing some of the best athletes in the sport charge around the SEC on Youtube, ahead of competing on the course myself, certainly whetted the appetite even though I wasn’t due to race until the Saturday.
With HYROX being advertised as the sport for everyone, I was roped in by a friend, and was feeling pretty good going into the event itself, despite suffering for two weeks in the build-up with a sickness bug.
As my own training is made up of a mixture of CrossFit and running, I had felt as though HYROX would come relatively easy to me. Having set a PR of 42minutes 48 seconds in my 10km last year, as well as a half-marathon PR at 1hr 45mins, the 8km of running around the SEC wasn’t of any concern.
These fears were only further put to the back of my mind when, in preparation for HYROX, we did a simulation at the start of February, giving ourselves a feel for the entire thing and seeing where our weaknesses were and what we could work on.
Having that first real experience of HYROX certainly gave us a sense of security. We knew what we could do well with, where we could target improvement and where the grunt work was… or so we thought.
Upon arriving at the venue, the place was buzzing with anticipation and excitement. People checked in ahead of their race, while others were soaking up the atmosphere, perusing the small vendor area, or delighting in the variety of caterers on site — beers included. But for plenty of people, it was all about their race and recovery afterwards.
Glasgow HYROX was infinitely different to what we’d experienced on our simulation. Not only were our runs A LOT slower than they had been at the practice attempt — a common problem we found upon discussing results with others who took part in the same simulation ahead of HYROX itself — the Glasgow course was often congested, with the faster runners dodging through, some politely and some not-so-politely.
Fellow competitors and onlookers were on hand to help participants push themselves on
It was like being caught up in the middle of a stampede of sweat and abdominals for the bulk of the running, with at least 90 per cent (probably) of male competitors choosing to ditch the T-shirts and go bare-chested.
At one stage, a nearby couple could be heard screaming at one another to ‘hurry the f*** up!’ as well as numerous elbows being used to jostle for the best position on the course, which provided some light entertainment as a break from the monotonous laps of the SEC halls.
The competition holds the same format at every event, with waves of competitors being sent off on their first kilometre run in intervals, with a mix of athletes — whether that be solos or duos, of any age from 16+.
This format means that someone who might take three hours to complete the race is on the course at the same time as someone who might take less than half of that, which can clearly bring the positives of seeing some inspiring athletes.
With it, however, comes the negatives. Namely, a sense of entitlement among participants and a lot of egos attempting to shove their way through, despite those they are running past might — in fact, probably will not — be part of their own wave.
Though it can remind some to just focus on their own race and not worry about what everyone else around them is doing, for me, I didn’t enjoy strangers putting a hand on my shoulder and trying to guide me out of their way to shave milli-seconds off their own time.
While there is a clear benefit and appeal of HYROX for anyone into their fitness, it didn’t do anything for me.
Don’t get me wrong, the event was well run and well organised, with no shortage of equipment despite the thousands of race participants each day. But, would I do another one? Probably not.
The running event proved a congested affair, with people jostling to improve their times
Running, for me, is about getting out in the fresh air, exploring your area and, when the weather is right, getting some vitamin D.
To harbour any ambitions of doing well at HYROX — and by well, I mean winning — strong running is key.
For context, in the men’s open division, the overall winner — David Parkin — ran his 8km in 29mins 13seconds, while Eilidh Boyd took the women’s open title with a running total of 33:22.
At the other end of the scale, some runners were taking over an hour to complete their 8km, so there is definitely room for anyone and everyone to take part.
Would I recommend doing one, though? Absolutely. The buzz of the people there — from staff, participants and spectators alike — is something that is rare in certain areas of the fitness world.
It’s a very good test of your own overall endurance and fitness ability too.
Plus, you get a Velcro patch once you’ve crossed the finish line and got your breath back, which is a nice touch and a reminder of your own capability when you put your mind to something and what you can achieve.
