Christian Tötzke, founder of Hyrox, plans to make the fitness races the equivalent of the London Marathon - the big event of the year which everyone aspires to participate in.

Speaking in the latest issue HCM, Tötzke says he has a clear growth strategy of reaching 170 Hyrox events around the world by 2027, in the most exciting cities. “We want to have one million people doing Hyrox every year. We’re seeing a growing number of the Hyrox community travelling to events outside of their country. It’s now so popular that British events sell out months before they happen.”

Hyrox involves a combination of running and functional workouts in a huge indoor space. Participants run for 8k in total and do eight different functional exercises, including sled push and pull, sandbag lunges and wall balls. It works for all levels of ability as the pros aim to complete in less than an hour, while those who are less confident can take part in a pair or a team.

The company is being dynamic about forming partnerships to realise its ambitions to broaden its reach and get gym-goers to do workouts focussed on competing. Having teamed up with BFT to move into the Asia Pacific region and the Centr app founded by Hollywood actor, Chris Hemworth, to provide competition equipment, Tötzke is now looking for solutions to get into other geographies, such as Brazil and India.

Tötzke predicts fitness events will become a huge market going forward because they introduce gamification to the gym and provides members with the motivation to train. “No one learns tennis to hit a ball against the wall,” he says. He predicts fitness racing will continue to gather pace, leading to a significant growth in gym membership and televised elite level competition.

Read the full interview with Christian Tötzke in HCM here