By IPL standards, this was a small crowd — around 2,000 people — but they knew how to make noise. So there was no shortage of adrenaline or atmospherics when the event billed as India’s ‘largest fitness race’ began at an exhibition centre in Mumbai. As the participants ran, pulled and pushed sleds, did burpees and lunges, got on rowing machines and lifted weights, family and friends in the stands cheered lustily.“My friends also made posters. It was like being at a party, but with a workout,” says Nayanika Chatterjee, a Pune-based animator who is among the growing breed of Indians to get hooked to Hyrox.Fitness is a mass addiction, but it has rarely coalesced as a competitive mass sport, except for the marathon. Hyrox is showing early signs of being another.Launched in Germany in 2017, the Hyrox race is an 8km indoor race, but it’s not a continuous sprint. Each kilometre is punctuated by a different challenge, like the lunge and burpee. The Mumbai event in Sept 2025 was its debut in India.

According to Hyrox India, the number of participants at its Delhi race that followed Mumbai’s went up to 2,300. A second one in Mumbai saw 3,350 people show up. And around 8,200 lined up for a Hyrox race in Bengaluru this year. Among those to take up the challenge in India’s Silicon City was badminton star P V Sindhu, who ran as Puma ambassador, and was cheered on by Indian cricket captain Harmanpreet Kaur. There is one coming up in Delhi in July; initial registration numbers indicate over 8,000 will join in.Chatterjee, a crossfit enthusiast, trained for a month and took time off work to run her second Hyrox race in Bengaluru because she “wanted that experience again”. Anmol Gupta, a Delhi-based crossfit trainer, says the number of people he coaches for these races has gone up threefold since last year.“I feel like one of the reasons Hyrox got popular is because the entry barrier is so low. One does not need a former event participation certificate, or any specific skill, unlike, say, in football, where you need to know the rules of the game,” he says.There is also no time limit to finishing the race. Pros can do it in under an hour and a half; first-timers can take up to three hours. “It definitely requires a lot of endurance because of the format,” Gupta says, “So people need special preparation.”He says the number of fitness studios that provide Hyrox training facilities have grown across India. These don’t have traditional gym equipment but emulate a Hyrox circuit, so people simulate an actual race.In Delhi-NCR, there are 11 gyms with these facilities, Mumbai has 13 and Bengaluru 16. Goa, Hyderabad and Chennai also have a few that are recognised by Hyrox India.Hyrox tests not just cardiovascular strength but also endurance and muscular strength. Gupta says for many who go regularly to the gym and do other forms of workout, this is a way to assess their all-round fitness levels.For Sahil Sawhney (41) from Gurgaon, Hyrox is the ultimate test of fitness. He was struggling with his weight till two years ago and became serious about his health in 2025. “From 110kg, I am now at 80kg, which is perfect for my height and BMI. But I want to see how far I’ve come,” says the corporate executive, who has registered for the July event in Delhi.Sawhney goes to a Hyroxcertified studio two days a week and works on his strength and stamina at his regular gym for the remaining five. “It is expensive to train at these specialised gyms, so I go there only twice a week,” he says. Training costs Rs 500 for an individual session.In a statement released through a representative, Sindhu said, “Badminton has always been my world but Hyrox is completely different. There is no opponent across the net, jut you, the clock and eight stations…. I won’t pretend it was easy, but that is exactly what drew me to it.”