How a relay works
A relay is the full race: eight runs of about a kilometre, each followed by a station, in the usual order (the basics are on what HYROX is). The difference is that four of you share it. The rulebook gives each racer two runs and two stations and leaves the rest to you: which run and station each person takes is entirely up to the team. Only one of you races at a time while the other three wait.
A leg is a run and the station after it
Your stations come with the run in front of them. Take the sled push and you also run the second kilometre; take the wall balls and you run the eighth. A racer can do two legs back to back, or race one, hand over and come back later.
The hand-over happens in the transition zone
- The racer who is up next may enter the transition zone only shortly before the exchange, and nobody may loiter there. Getting your next racer there on time is the team's job.
- A finished racer runs into the zone and high-fives the next one, who sets off on their run. The finished racer leaves the zone straight away.
- Racing two legs in a row? You still run through the transition zone after your first station so your timing chip is seen. Skip it and the penalty is automatic.
- Each of the four wears their own timing chip on an ankle, and a team may not start with fewer than four racers present.
- HYROX's UK and Ireland FAQ says a relay team sends one person to a mandatory on-site briefing, with its time and place on the event page in race week, and that person passes it on to the other three.
All four finish together
Once your last racer leaves the transition zone for the eighth run, the other three make their way to the wall balls along the spectator routes. They may go in through the marked relay entry only once the wall balls have started, then stand under the rig with their teammate. The 100 wall balls are that one racer's station. When they are done, all four run to the finish together.
Divisions, loads and age groups
There are three relay divisions: Women (four women), Men (four men) and Mixed (two women and two men). All three race Open loads. Relay has no Pro division.
The loads follow the racer, not the team. HYROX lists the Mixed relay with women's and men's figures side by side, so in a Mixed team a woman on the sled push moves 102 kg and a man 152 kg, sled included. The full table is on the weights page.
Age groups are simpler than in singles. There are two, Under 40 and 40 plus, set by the average age of all four on race day. The rulebook's own example is a team aged 24, 38, 48 and 40: an average of 37.5, so Under 40. How every format and age group fits together is on the divisions page.
Some events also sell Corporate Relay places for teams from one workplace. When we checked on 15 October 2026, the provisional schedule for AIA HYROX Hong Kong, 7 to 10 January 2027, had Men's, Women's and Mixed Corporate Relay waves on the Friday, with the other relays at the weekend. The Relay rulebook sets no separate rules for them.
Choosing who does which station
Start from the stations, not the runs. Everyone runs about two kilometres whichever legs they take, but the stations ask for different things. Five questions help.
- Who is strongest? The sled push and sled pull are the heaviest work in the race. In a study of a simulated solo race they were also the two quickest stations, a median of 128 and 155 seconds, so they make a short, hard leg for whoever handles heavy loads best. They are stations 2 and 3: one racer can take both back to back, or two racers can take one each and arrive fresh.
- Whose grip lasts? The sled pull, the row and the farmers carry all load the forearms, and the row and the carry are stations 5 and 6. Taking both back to back means carrying 200 m on a grip that has just rowed 1,000 m.
- Who has used an erg? The SkiErg and the row are 1,000 m each and paced on a monitor. Someone who knows their split on both will waste less of the leg finding it.
- Who moves their own body well? The 80 m of burpee broad jumps carry no load and the 100 m of sandbag lunges a light one (a 10 or 20 kg sandbag), so both lean on how well you move your own body, and both are hard on the legs.
- Who never misses a wall ball? The last leg is 100 reps with your hips below your knees at the bottom, to a target of 2.70 m for women and 3.00 m for men. In the solo study it was where heart rate, lactate and effort all peaked. Give it to whoever is surest of the standard.
| Racer | Legs | Why this pairing |
|---|---|---|
| Racer A | Runs 1 and 5: SkiErg, row | Both erg legs for the racer who knows splits |
| Racer B | Runs 2 and 3: sled push, sled pull | The strongest racer takes both sleds back to back |
| Racer C | Runs 4 and 7: burpee broad jumps, sandbag lunges | The two lightest-loaded legs, well spaced |
| Racer D | Runs 6 and 8: farmers carry, wall balls | A fresh grip on the carry, one leg of rest, then the finish |
Write down all eight legs, who takes each one and who waits in the zone after it. The next racer has to be in the transition zone on time, so each of you needs to know whose leg comes before yours and roughly how long it takes.
How hard to race a relay leg
A solo HYROX is long and relentless. In what its authors call the first scientific study of the race, 11 recreational racers did a simulated solo Open race in a median 86.5 minutes and spent about 80% of it at 90 to 100% of their maximum heart rate. A relay racer covers a quarter of that course, and usually gets a rest in the middle.
That changes the pacing. Jones and Vanhatalo's review of the critical power concept describes a curve between how hard you work and how long you can keep it up: the shorter the effort, the harder you can go. Above a level called critical power you draw on a limited reserve of work, which runs down while you stay above it and refills when you drop below it. A relay leg is short enough to spend more of that reserve than the same kilometre of a solo race would allow. The research comes mostly from cycling and running rather than HYROX, so treat it as the principle, not a pace.
Three rules for the effort
- Run harder than your solo pace, but not flat out. Your station still has to be finished, and an unfinished station is a disqualification.
- If your legs are split, race the first knowing a rest is coming. The review reports studies suggesting the reserve refills on a curve, at a rate that differs a lot between people. Learn in training how much comes back in the time your teammates take.
- If you race two legs back to back, treat them as one effort of two runs and two stations, and pace the first run closer to how you would in a solo race.
Relay or doubles?
Both formats share the race, but differently. In doubles both of you run every kilometre together and split each station however you like. In a relay each of you races your own legs alone.
| Question | Relay | Doubles |
|---|---|---|
| Racers | Four | Two |
| Running each | About 2 km: two of the eight runs | About 8 km: every run, side by side |
| Station work each | Two whole stations | A share of all eight, split as you choose |
| Rest | Between your legs, while teammates race | At each station, on your feet, while your partner works |
| Pro division | None | Doubles Men Pro and Doubles Women Pro |
| Age groups | Under 40 and 40 plus, by team average | Under 24, then five-year bands, by the pair's average |
Choose a relay if the full 8 km is more than one of you can run yet, or you want to bring a gym or office team. Choose doubles if you both want to cover the whole course with someone to share the stations. A relay is ranked only against relay teams in its division, so its time tells you nothing about a solo time.
Training for a relay
Your race is two runs and two stations, raced hard. Train those, and train them in the order you will race them.
- Rehearse your legs. Run about 1 km at the effort you plan to race, go straight into your station at race weight and standard, then rest for roughly the time your teammates will take and do your second leg. If you race back to back, rehearse it back to back.
- Keep your hard running short and sharp. Intervals of around a kilometre, with threshold runs for the base under them. Sessions are on threshold runs and intervals.
- Practise your stations off a run, not fresh. The standard for each one and how to train it after running are on the stations page.
- Rehearse the hand-over once as a team. A marked zone, a high-five, and your back-to-back racer running through it. It takes ten minutes.
- Your wall-ball racer does 100 reps after a hard kilometre, at race weight and target, with the rest of the team standing by if you can.
When you add your race, choose Relay as its format. Tap the plus on Home or Agenda, choose Add event, pick HYROX and fill in the date, your division and format, your experience, whether you are chasing a time or aiming to finish, and how hard you want to commit.
With Pro or during your trial, that tells your coach what it is building towards and how long it has. Who races which legs is for your team to agree: the app does not split the race between you.