Hyrox in Peterborough and Stamford: where to train, and what to wear on your feet
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Laura, owner of Bog Dog Running, is training for her first Hyrox. This is the local guide she wished existed when she started: where the sleds are, where the nearest events are, and what to put on your feet.
Where to train for Hyrox near Peterborough and Stamford
You can train for a Hyrox without a gym. Laura does most of hers in the garage and then runs up and down the street, and it seems to be working. But at some point you want to push a real sled on real turf, and that means finding somewhere with the kit.
Elevate Gym, Peterborough. The most Hyrox-specific set-up in the area, with Hyrox and Hyrox90 classes on the timetable alongside engine and lifting sessions. If you want to rehearse the stations in order, on the proper kit, this is the place.
SHFT Training, Stamford. A newer gym on Ryhall Road, five minutes from the shop, running coach-led hybrid classes, skills sessions and a free run club for all abilities. Laura's read is that it's very much on the Hyrox movement, and it's the obvious place to train with other people rather than on your own.
At home. A sandbag, a kettlebell or two and a medicine ball cover lunges, farmers carry and wall balls. Burpee broad jumps need nothing but a bit of pavement and some dignity to spare. The runs are 1km efforts, so a flat loop near home and a watch is all you need for those.
Know somewhere we've missed? Tell us and we'll add it.
The nearest Hyrox events
There's no Hyrox in Peterborough itself yet. The nearest events are the big indoor ones, all a reasonable drive or train from here:
- Birmingham: [27 Oct -1 Nov], the closest for most of us. About 90 minutes up the A14 and M6, or direct trains from Peterborough to Birmingham New Street.
- London: [2 Dec - 6 Dec]. Under an hour by train from Peterborough to King's Cross.
- Manchester: [20 Jan - 31 Jan].
Entries open months ahead and sell out, so if you're on the fence, Laura's advice is to just enter one: "Variety is the spice of life. Try it once, and if you don't like it you never have to do it again. I think I'll want to improve, though, so there'll be a second and a third."
Why a running shop cares about Hyrox
Because of what walks through the door. A Hyrox is 8km of running broken into eight 1km laps, one before every station, and the people who come into the shop asking about it almost all say the same thing: the running is their weak point. They've got the strength from the gym. They haven't got 8km of running on tired legs, on a hard indoor loop with corners.
That's a runner's problem, and it's the one we solve every day. A gait analysis (£40, with £20 back against a pair of shoes) looks at how you actually run and puts you in a shoe that suits it. For Hyrox that matters twice over, because the shoe has to run well and hold up on the stations.
What to wear on your feet
The short version, in Laura's words: "Everyone's read the forums and comes in asking for a carbon shoe. I'd avoid that at all costs. They're really unstable on the stations. What you want is low, level and grippy."
Grip for the sled push, a flat stable platform for lunges and wall balls, and enough real running cushion that eight 1km efforts feel like running rather than plodding. Most of the shoes that fit that brief are stable daily trainers or gym-to-run hybrids rather than anything with Hyrox written on the box.
The full station-by-station guide, Laura's three picks and everything we stock for it are on the Hyrox shoes and kit page. If you'd rather try them on, we're in Stamford, about 25 minutes from Peterborough by car or 15 by train; the Peterborough runners page has directions and what to bring.
Kit, briefly
Minimal and tight. It gets very hot and anything loose will flap about and annoy you by station three. Short race shorts, a fitted top, snug socks that don't let your foot slide on the sled pull. No belt: there are drinks between every station. One caffeine gel about twenty minutes before the start and nothing during, unless you know you need it.