Hyrox races launch in India with first event scheduled for 2025 in Mumbai

Hyrox, a global fitness race series, comes to India in 2025, offering structured training programs and unique challenges.

They travel the world to pant and sweat through floodlit stadiums, lugging kettle bells and pounding race tracks. What is this new-age race that has men and women lace up their shoes to alternate between running and lunging, burpees and rowing?

Launched in 2017 in Germany by Christian Toetzke, an international race organiser, and Moritz Furste, a field hockey player and Olympian who has also played for the Hockey India League, Hyrox is a series of fitness races that addresses the primal essence of an athlete. Designed to address all fitness and age levels and with different divisions — singles, doubles and relay — Hyrox has 84 events in 25 countries drawing 2,50,000 participants.

On October 17, India became the seventh country in the Asia-Pacific region to launch Hyrox. Bringing the global partnership to the country is Yoska that offers structured programmes and guidance for general fitness and triathlon training. The first event will be held on May 3, 2025 in Mumbai.

Deepak Raj, CEO and chief coach, Yoska, and country head, Hyrox India, says, “While Yoska hosted our region’s first Ironman in 2019, it wasn’t until September last year that we got aware of Hyrox races. My friend Saurav was training for it and I reached out to the Hyrox founders asking whether they had considered coming to India. Pitches, meetings and proposals followed, and here we are.”

But Deepak’s own journey to being a triathlete and marathoner was not an easy run. The 47-year-old Bangalorean is an old boy of St Joseph’s who pursued the well-trodden path of studying Mechanical Engineering at Ambedkar College and working for a software giant. “Times were good — the salary, the food, the parties,” laughs Deepak.  “When I worked in Germany with Adidas, I found the ecosystem was sports oriented. Colleagues, often twice my age, cycled, ran, and swam during lunch hour. In comparison I wasn’t happy where I was. That was the trigger.”

Deepak moved the scale back from 95 kilograms — becoming a marathoner and triathlete. When he signed up for the Hyrox race at Vienna this February he was hooked. “It was in the midst of our meetings when I registered for the doubles race alongside Karl Schumacher of Hyrox. The running was the easy part for me, it was Karl who took the lead at the work stations. Later, I trained again and did a singles event,” says Deepak explaining how the race works. 

A video on Hyrox is a portrait of athletes in various stages of exhaustion and elation. With spectators cheering them on, it is obvious that the reasons go beyond weight loss and fitness. The race is a series that involves eight functional workouts, including the farmer’s carry, rowing, burpees, ball throws and sled pull. These are followed by eight one-kilometre sprints, with a focus on beating a personal best.