How to Host a HYROX Simulation at Your Gym

RaceCapture · Guides

A HYROX simulation is the best event a gym can run: athletes get a full race rehearsal, members bring friends, and the photos fill your Instagram for a month. It is also a real event to organize, with eight stations, a lot of heavy equipment and a few hundred people moving through your space. This guide covers what you need, how to run the day, and how to get every athlete their photos and videos afterwards.

What a HYROX simulation is

A simulation copies the format of a HYROX race outside an official HYROX event: eight 1 km runs, each followed by one workout station. Gyms, CrossFit boxes and run clubs host them so athletes can practise pacing and transitions before race day. Call yours a HYROX-style simulation and keep HYROX's logos off your posters: the name and marks belong to HYROX, and a simulation is not an official race.

The eight stations

These are the standards as HYROX's apparel partner PUMA publishes them. Check the current official rulebook before your event, since weights can change.

• SkiErg: 1,000 m.
• Sled push: 4 × 12.5 m. Open: 102 kg women, 152 kg men, sled included. Pro: 152 kg and 202 kg.
• Sled pull: 4 × 12.5 m. Open: 78 kg women, 103 kg men, sled included. Pro: 103 kg and 153 kg.
• Burpee broad jumps: 80 m.
• Row: 1,000 m.
• Farmers carry: 200 m. Open: 2 × 16 kg women, 2 × 24 kg men. Pro: 2 × 24 kg and 2 × 32 kg.
• Sandbag lunges: 100 m. Open: 10 kg women, 20 kg men. Pro: 20 kg and 30 kg.
• Wall balls: 100 reps. Open: 4 kg women, 6 kg men. Pro: 6 kg and 9 kg.

Many gyms scale it down: a half simulation with 500 m runs, a doubles format where partners split the station work, or a relay of four. All of them make a great first event.

Equipment checklist

• SkiErgs and rowers: at least one of each per athlete in a heat, more if you can borrow them.
• Sleds and a turf lane long enough for 12.5 m lengths, plus the plates to load them.
• Kettlebells or farmers handles, sandbags and wall balls in every weight you offer.
• A marked running loop with a clear lap count, and someone counting laps.
• A clock everyone can see, and one judge for every station that counts reps.

Plan the day around heats

Most simulations run athletes in heats rather than all at once, because the bottleneck is equipment: one heat can only be as large as your number of rowers, sleds and SkiErgs. Stagger the heats so a new one starts while the previous one is on its first stations, and the floor never jams at the sled lane. Give each heat a start time on the registration page, and publish the full heat schedule the week before.

For registration, use whatever your gym already uses for paid events. Ask for each athlete's division (Open, Pro, Doubles, Relay) and an email address, so you can send results and photos afterwards.

Plan the photos and videos too

Athletes will ask for photos before they ask for their time. Plan for it:

• Put a photographer where the effort shows. The sled push, the burpee broad jumps, the wall balls and the finish line give the best faces. Two shooters cover a full day better than one.
• Shoot short video clips. A ten-second clip of a sled push is the post every athlete wants. Clips go into the same gallery as the photos.
• Split the gallery by heat. Sections like "Heats 1–4" let athletes browse their own part of the day, while one search still covers everything.
• Skip the shared folder. Three thousand photos is a lot to scroll through on a phone. Host your sim photos on RaceCapture and each athlete finds every photo and video of themselves with one selfie, or with their bib number. Doubles partners can search together.
• Decide free or paid before the day. A free gallery is a gift to your members and a marketing tool for the gym; a paid gallery pays your photographer. Both work.

After the event

1. Upload the photos and videos, during the event if your Wi-Fi allows. Galleries go live as photos land.
2. Send one email to every athlete with the gallery link, from your registration list.
3. Post the gallery link on Instagram and put it in your results email.
4. Embed the gallery on your gym's website so next year's athletes see what they are signing up for.

Questions gyms ask about running a simulation

Can I call my event a HYROX simulation?

Describing the format is common ("a HYROX-style simulation"), but the HYROX name and logos are trademarks. Make it clear your event is unofficial and don't use their marks without permission.

How many athletes can a gym handle?

It depends on your equipment. Count your rowers, SkiErgs and sleds: that is roughly the size of one heat. Multiply by the number of heats you can fit in the day.

Where do other gyms list their simulations?

In Canada, send it to us for our calendar of upcoming hybrid fitness events. You can see past Ottawa simulations and their galleries on our Ottawa HYROX simulation photos page.