Hyrox, the global fitness race, draws 8,000 athletes to Bengaluru

Raj Ganpath, a fitness and nutrition coach and co-founder of fitness centre The Quad in Chennai, admits he is a little nervous. “That nervous energy comes from the fact that this will be my first Hyrox event,” he says, referring to the Ultrahuman Hyrox Bengaluru race scheduled for this weekend (April 11 and 12) at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre. Participation has seen a sharp rise across cities, with Mumbai hosting 1,650 athletes for the inaugural edition, followed by Delhi at 2,200 last year, a subsequent Mumbai event in September 2025 drawing 3,350, and Bengaluru scaling up to 8,200 participants.

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Launched in 2017 in Germany by race organiser Christian Toetzke and Olympian Moritz Fürste, Hyrox has evolved into a global fitness racing series built around the fundamentals of athletic performance. Designed to be inclusive across age groups and fitness levels, it features multiple categories, including singles, doubles and relay formats, and today spans 80-plus events across 25 countries, with over 2,50,000 participants.

India joined the circuit on October 17, 2024 as the seventh Asia-Pacific market. The first race in the country was held in May last year, in Mumbai. Bengaluru is the second pitstop, followed by Delhi in July (with registrations already open), and Mumbai in September.

In an earlier interview with The Hindu, Deepak Raj, founder and CEO, Yoska, and country head, Hyrox India and Ironman India, said, “Gym-goers don’t have a race — this fills the gap. Hyrox’s USP is that it’s accessible, and can be held any time of the year because it is an indoor event. Hyrox is for everybody; for all forms, and builds endurance and strength. You can do the doubles or a relay that has four participants,” says Deepak.

The draw of Hyrox

What drew Raj in was the structure of the race itself. “If you look at the overall circuit, it’s heavily endurance-based, but there’s a significant strength component as well,” he explains. Competing in the Pro Doubles category, where weights are heavier than in the Open division, he has spent the last three-and-a-half months preparing, largely through simulations that mirror race conditions, alternating between one-kilometre runs and functional stations. Some of this training has taken place at Momentum Studio in MRC Nagar, Chennai, as access to Hyrox-style setups in the city remains limited.

In the lead-up to the two-day event in the Garden City, his focus has now shifted to tapering. “You want to taper down and make sure you show up on race day feeling fresh and recovered,” he says. “The idea is not to overdo things at this stage; you don’t want to drain yourself. You also don’t want to take the entire week off, because then you risk feeling deconditioned.” Instead, the emphasis is on reducing load while staying active — “just enough to keep the body primed and the central nervous system engaged.”

For Raj, the process has been as rewarding as the race itself. “To be very honest, for me, Hyrox is already done; I’ve gotten everything I needed out of the training,” he says. “My endurance has improved, my strength has improved, and my nutrition has become more streamlined.”

Mumbai-based Nike Training coach Kunal Rajput, says the rise of Hyrox in India mirrors what he had already observed in early-adopter markets. “In places like Singapore and other parts of the world, the fitness community was really excited, and it became a thing because everybody wanted to participate,” he says. Even a couple of years ago, these markets were already hosting multi-day events.

That growth is reflected in the ecosystem around the sport. Kunal points out that gyms and training centres looking to align with Hyrox — through affiliation or specialised programming — pay annual fees in the range of ₹50,000 to ₹60,000. “You pay a fee and you’re sorted,” he says, pointing to how structured training ecosystems are beginning to form around the format.

Kunal draws a clear distinction between participation and competition. “There’s a massive pool of people who are participating, but only a certain pool who are actually competing.” For many, the appeal is less about performance and more about experience. “People are signing up to try it out, to do it with their partners, with a group of friends, even for the social aspect of it,” he says, adding that for some, there is also an element of visibility or “social clout”.

That sense of shared effort often becomes the hook. “My sister and I did the Bangkok Hyrox in March — that was my sixth race.” What stands out, he says, is how naturally the format brings people together. Whether it’s friends, family members, or even complete strangers on the same course, there is a shared rhythm to the experience. “It’s a lovely event in that sense —people come together, push through it side by side, and that makes the whole thing far more enjoyable.”

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Nutrition is key

Bengaluru-based fitness trainer Shwetambari Shetty participated in the inaugural Mumbai event last year in the Women’s Pro Doubles, finishing on the podium, which qualified her teammate and her for the World Championships in Sweden in June this year. Since then, Shwetambari has taken her participation international. “A few weeks ago, I also did a race in Bangkok, which was partly for the experience,” she says. The trip doubled as a community outing, with a group of 20 from her gym, Thirdspace in Indiranagar, travelling together.

That sense of accessibility, at least in urban centres, she believes, is key to Hyrox’s growing appeal. “If you’re already someone who goes to the gym — lifting weights and doing some cardio — it’s not an impossible leap,” she says. The main adjustment, she notes, is running. “Running becomes a big part of it, but it’s about eight kilometres in total, which you can build up to over a couple of months.”

If training builds the base, she stresses that nutrition and recovery determine how well that training translates on race day. “Unlike strength-focussed disciplines such as powerlifting, endurance events demand a very different fuelling strategy.”

Central to this is carbohydrate loading. “You should be consuming roughly five grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight in the early part of the week, and then increase that to about seven to eight grams per kilogram in the last two days before the race,” she says. The goal is simple: maximise glycogen stores.

Race-day fuelling requires just as much planning. “If you’re using energy gels, you need to practise with them in training,” she says. Typically, she suggests taking one gel 15 to 20 minutes before the race, followed by smaller doses every 20 to 30 minutes.

She draws a clear distinction between fuelling for energy and managing fatigue-related issues like cramping. Salt tablets, electrolyte mixes, or even pickle juice-based solutions, commonly used in endurance sports, can help address this.

Preparation, she emphasises, extends beyond food and training.

Even clothing can impact performance. “If you’re carrying gels or snacks, you need functional clothing with pockets,” she says, recalling instances where participants kept gels in their sports bras, leading to cuts, discomfort, and even injury due to chafing.

Inclusion

For Pune-based performance coach Veenita Johnson, Hyrox is as much about inclusivity as it is intensity. Veenita is among the few Hyrox-certified female trainers in Maharashtra and also works as a Hyrox India consultant. She currently has a cohort of 16 trainees preparing for the Bengaluru race, with additional participants lined up for Delhi and Mumbai.

What makes her journey particularly significant is her own condition. Veenita has been living with bilateral peroneal neuropathy (commonly known as foot drop) since 2020 — a neurological condition that affects movement in the lower limbs. She is now set to participate in the Adaptive category, designed to accommodate athletes with a range of physical conditions, at the Bengaluru race, having previously competed in the doubles category in Mumbai.

In Veenita’s case, she will complete the full one kilometre runs between stations but may modify certain strength components. “For something like sled push or sled pull, which puts a lot of stress on the lower limbs, I may do a reduced distance — say 25 metres instead of 50,” she says. For movements like wall balls, she has the option of using a plyometric box (around 75 cm high) to assist with stability during squats. “You can choose whether to take that support or not — it’s flexible depending on your condition.”

Importantly, Hyrox also allows for varying levels of participation within the adaptive category. “If there are too many modifications required, you can choose to participate out of the race, just for the experience,” she says.

Training, however, is far from reduced. Her regimen includes additional mobility work, physiotherapy-led exercises, and focussed strengthening to compensate for muscle groups that are less functional. “I have to spend extra hours building endurance and managing compensation patterns,” she explains, noting that she recently completed a 10-kilometre run as part of her preparation.

Hyrox is also beginning to attract brands looking to tap into its community-driven audience. At the Bengaluru edition, The League, the exclusive, members-only dating app, will host an on-ground activation. A League x Hyrox Cam will capture athletes mid-effort, reframing traits like consistency and resilience as markers of desirability, while invite-only access codes will subtly nudge participants to continue connections on the app. The idea is not to force interaction, but to let chemistry emerge in a high-energy environment and extend it digitally.

The pricing debate

For Raj, the question of pricing is layered rather than straightforward. “If you compare it to something like a 10K or a half marathon, then yes, it does feel expensive,” he says. “You’re looking at registrations starting around ₹7,500 and going upwards of ₹10,000 depending on the category.”

At Hyrox events, spectator passes (people who just want to come in, watch, support, even take pictures — have to pay) are priced between ₹500 and ₹1,500, but Raj is quick to point out that the comparison with road races is not entirely like-for-like. “Here, you’re dealing with an indoor, controlled environment — air-conditioning, specialised equipment like sleds and ski ergs, plus judges and timing systems. Naturally, the cost of putting something like this together is much higher.”

For now, he sees India as being in an early phase of adoption. “We’re still at that stage where people are trying it out,” he says. “And like anything new, the first set of participants are usually the ones willing to pay that premium.”