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Check out all the HYROX action from last week.
The Women’s Pro Singles & Doubles, Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles: four races; 12 top-three finishers in total. 11 of 12 were British and Irish (or in one case half-British). Only the Men’s Pro Singles bucked the trend where Dylan Caruso (Italy) won, followed by a Moroccan and an Aussie.
Abu Dhabi also marked the season debut for Lucy Procter. She and Roisin Egan duelled, well ahead of the field before Procter prevailed by only nine seconds. She’s been very open recently about her mental health struggles and the benefits she has gained from her diagnosis (AuDHD). Not least knowing what she is dealing with so she can strategise how to manage. This win will provide valuable reassurance that she is still well and truly on-track with her Elite15 status and ambitions.
Rich Ryan is on record as being not a fan of points-chasing. He had his training block scheduled and enough points to qualify for the first Elite race of the year on the Hyrox cruise last week. When that was rescheduled for a week later in Hamburg, it meant that his 2025 Hamburg Major points rolled off, pushing him out of the Elite15. He decided not to shift his training to accommodate an extra race in early October in hopes of 105 points. Not only that, but he wasn’t interested in travelling to Europe to race Challenger15. A polite-but-firm ‘No thanks’ to the priorities and processes being thrust at him.
Was the training guru, podcast host and Hyrox shoe entrepreneur getting ready for a racing off-ramp? Was the idea of being 40 years old with a young family nudging him towards dialling it back and letting the youngsters take the wheel?
Heck no. After crushing a 54:28 for the overall win ahead of Ryan Douglas and Gabe Piepergerdes, Rich made it abundantly clear that he’s going nowhere anytime soon, and furthermore that he’d never really left. He is doing the calendar his way. And while Tampa wasn’t a slow course there will be no asterisks next to his time. He’s in the thick of it again and has probably already booked his plane ticket to London’s Elite15 race in December.
“Dougie is one of the best young athletes in the game so I was eager to see how I was gonna stack up at this point of the season, so taking the win is a big confidence booster that I still have some juice. The time is exciting but there are a lot of factors that play into it so I try to take that with a grain of salt. I feel like I’m set up well to compete for the rest of the season. Ideally I can snag some more points in Denver and be a fixture for the elite races from London on.”
Also in Tampa, Willow Collins had her second win of the season in her fourth qualifying race. She told me, “I was confident going into this one. Honestly wasn’t feeling the most physically and mentally dialed but knew that my fitness and clean execution could get me the win…”
Her potential is fast becoming obvious but with the new points system it obviously takes some patience to get where you want to be.
“I guess people are telling me that I should shoot for either the London or Thailand [Elite races in December and February]. Those would both be cool opportunities. I definitely would like to qualify for Vegas [Elite race in March] in either E15 or Challenger because that is close to home. Right now I feel good and have good momentum, so I am trying to ride that wave, but my coach and I are also trying to be intentional and see the bigger picture. I’m so young so we want to make sure we are prioritizing my health, sustainable training, and honestly just enjoying the process.” Part of that enjoyment is also cleaning up in the Doubles, this time scoring a win in the Mixed category with Hunter Auch.
40 seconds behind Willow was Liz Jones, a DEKA World Championships veteran making her Hyrox debut.
She told me, “I’ve wanted to try HYROX for a few years [but] wasn’t ready to compete. I got into DEKA earlier this year and I knew I also wanted to try HYROX. I signed up for HYROX Denver since it’s close to home (I’m from Colorado). We were already planning a family trip to Florida, so I grabbed a last-minute ticket to HYROX Tampa to test the waters.
The experience was amazing. It felt like stepping into a sport I really love and am passionate about. I’m racing HYROX Denver in November and DEKA World Championships in December, and I definitely have more HYROX races on the horizon.”
Next weekend the Hyrox tram glides into Hamburg for the first Elite15 races of the season. ‘Normal’ Pro races are also happening there, as well as full events in Birmingham (UK), Nice (France) and Mexico City, where Hunter will-he-won’t-he Mcintyre is on the start list. With so many races and the E15 boosted points on offer, expect some serious moves in the rankings.
Before then, catch the latest episode of Hybrid Fitness Report, which we are recording in Shanghai, where a Hyrox event was scheduled to take place this weekend, but now isn’t…
We’ll look back at the Hyrox Cruise and forward to Hamburg as we make our predictions for the Women’s and Men’s Singles and Doubles Elite15 races, with a look at the Challenger division too.
Follow The Hybrid Fitness Report to stay all track with all things HYROX.
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