Mint ·
How Hyrox is trying to build a fitness business in India
The indoor race, which combines eight 1-km runs with eight functional workouts, has turned fitness into a competition. Yoska Technology Solutions, the event’s organizer in India, is now trying to build a business around the format.
Bengaluru: Sameeha Mariam, 24, spends most evenings running through Adyar in south Chennai. A content creator and now a law student, Mariam began running with her friends three years ago. At the time, she was navigating some professional frustrations; others often got credit for her work and running offered something different. “It was all me. Nobody could attribute it to anyone else,” she said.
Running eventually led her to swimming, cycling, marathons, triathlons and, finally, Hyrox, a fitness race she has competed in twice, in the mixed-doubles category. The fitness format also changed the content she made, with her videos increasingly focusing on training, runs, workouts and race preparation.
In Mumbai, Varun Duggirala, also a content creator, took up Hyrox almost entirely for health reasons. For the 44-year-old entrepreneur, staying fit had meant lifting weights. Running was never really his thing. After becoming a father, he wanted the strength and endurance to carry his daughter everywhere, walk long distances, lift luggage and pick up a sleeping child without feeling exhausted.
