The first ever HYROX event at Olympia London was held across the May Bank Holiday weekend on Sunday April 30th 2023 and Monday May 1st 2023. At the time it was the largest ever HYROX race since it was founded in 2017. Split over two days, the event allowed for a larger total capacity, with over 7000 athletes competing.
“We realised quickly during the last season that with the intense demand for tickets in the UK, we were going to need to adapt to allow more people to take part in our events and ease the scheduling pressures moving forward” Commented Eddie Dier UK Brand Manager prior to the event. “Olympia London was the perfect venue for us to test this world first set up for us, it’s an iconic space and offers a unique viewing from the mezzanine floor. We are aiming to deliver a really enhanced athlete and spectator experience here with all of the potential that a two-day festival style set up offers us”.
It really was a stunning venue for the race, and in many ways reminded me of the Manchester venue for the HYROX 2023 World Championships. As with all UK events these days, because of it’s popularity, it was very crowded at times, both for spectators and athletes, but that did also contribute towards the atmosphere which was great. I (Greg) ran on the Monday afternoon and the support all around the course was some of the best I’ve experienced in a HYROX.
One controversy in the lead up to the event, which seemed to upset many athletes, was that HYROX determined that any athletes who were competing on one day of the event, but wanting to spectate on the other day of the event, would have to purchase a spectator ticket for the day they weren’t racing. There is obviously a need to control numbers in the venue, it was very busy as it was and if everyone was let in we would be complaining that the venue was far too busy (and unsafe)! But there were certainly many athletes who felt disgruntled at having to pay £10 for a spectator ticket having already paid something like £80 (depending on division and when the ticket was purchased) to race on the other day. How much this was actually enforced at the event I’m not sure in all honesty, I suspect it was possible to get into the venue with only your athlete wrist band. Hopefully if there are 2 day events in the future, HYROX can figure out a way to let athletes attend on both days without extra cost – it feels like a reasonable expectation considering the cost of tickets and the support that the UK community, in particular, has given to the sport.
The main results of the day were as follows:
Women’s Pro
The Women’s Pro race was won by Zara Piergianni in a time of 01:09:05. Zara shared her thoughts on the race with us in the below video…
Second was Kate Davey in 01:10:10, closely followed by Kerri Hewitt in 01:10:32.
Men’s Pro
The Men’s Pro race was won by Harry Thompson in 00:59:34. This was a significant PB for Harry who shared his thoughts on the race with us in the below video. I also subsequently interviewed Harry on the Roxzone podcast – you can listen to that wherever you get your podcasts, or watch on our YouTube channel.
Taking second place was Joffrey Voisin with a time of 01:00:12, very closely followed by Tony Revell in 01:00:34. Also worth mentioning that Tony, the following day, competed in the Men’s Open wearing a Built for Athletes bag containing 10kg of weight. And he finished in an impressive 01:07:37!
Men’s Open
Fastest in the Men’s Open was Fred Woodward Gentle in a time of 00:59:05.
Second was Cameron Tew in 01:00:27. Third was Brandon Wilkins in 01:01:17.
Women’s Open
The Women’s Open was won by Anna Aitken in 01:02:46.
Second was Georgia Billings in a time of 01:04:34, and rounding off the podium was Lucy Procter in 01:05:06.
Sam Bilbie who was 4th fastest of the day, broke her own World Record in the 45-49 Age Group with a time of 01:05:32. That turned out to be the first of 2 records she would break over the weekend (more on the second in the mixed relay section below!).
Doubles
Trent Smith and Dan Deacon won the Men’s Doubles in a time of 00:55:22.
The Women’s Doubles was won by Danielle Woods and Klare Osborne in 01:00:01.
The Mixed Doubles was won by Tom Hogan and Dena Hogan in a time of 00:58:05.
A special mention goes to Wendy Williams and Peter Kelly who set a new Mixed Doubles World Record in the 60-69 Age Group – knocking nearly 10 minutes off the previous time. What’s more, it put them in the top 30% of all mixed doubles teams on the day. An incredible achievement!
Relay
Two World Records were set late on Monday night in the Relay – in both the Mixed and Women’s events…
The Mixed relay (and new World Record) was won by Paul Gillingham (Rox Lyfe coach), Kate Davey, Samantha Bilbie, and Ciaran Parkinson with an incredible time of 00:53:52.
Then the Women’s relay World Record was broken by Aleksandra Vargin, Martina Gorz, Jenny Foster, and Laura Larner with a time of 01:02:30
The Men’s Relay was won by Omar Mansour, Jordon West, Dean Scott and Davey Platt in a time of 00:54:48.
Other UK events in the 2022/23 season have been held in Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow. Manchester also hosted the World Championships in May 2023.
Here are some photos of the event:
