In a swarm of 21,000 competitors Shepparton’s elite athletes were the cream of the crop.

In early July, Scotty Kennedy and Lacey Paaka made the trip to Sydney to participate in one of the world’s most gruelling fitness challenges.

Kennedy and Paaka are no strangers to the task of a Hyrox event — they were among the first to compete when it initially came to Australia in 2023 — but Sydney 2025 may have been their fiercest challenge yet.

The aforementioned figure of competitors was a record number for a Hyrox event, but the volume of participants didn’t diminish the quality of entrants either, with Kennedy stating the line-up of contestants was “stacked”.

Hyrox is a booming fitness contest that has exploded worldwide, often reserved for the fittest of human beings.

The event consists of eight exercise stations which can vary per Hyrox event, but the Sydney race consisted of a 1000m SkiErg, 50m sled push, 50m sled pull, 80m of burpee broad jumps, 1000m rowing, 200m farmer’s carry, 100m of sandbag lunges and 100 wall balls.

All of these exercises are accompanied by a 1km run that is to be completed before each set, having participants tally 8km of running overall.

For some it sounds like fitness torture, but it’s as addictive as it gets for Kennedy and Paaka.

“I found out about it a couple of years back when it first came to Australia, because it was like a bridging gap between Spartan races,” Kennedy said.

“It was just this fitness race that appeared, but then it got huge real quick.”

“I heard about it when it first came (to Australia) because BFT (Body Fit Training) used to have a partnership with Hyrox,” Paaka said.

“The first one we both competed in was in Melbourne.”

Both personal trainers competed in pairs in Sydney, with Kennedy and his Hyrox partner Steph Wighton competing in the mixed doubles, while Paaka and her partner Emily Stones competed in the women’s doubles, but Paaka also ran in a separate solo race.

Kennedy and Paaka more than held their own in the demanding fitness contest, placing first in their respective age groups and fifth and third in their respective doubles races.

In Paaka’s singles race, the 23-year-old finished third in her age group.

While typically both fitness coaches aim to have an eight-week block of preparation before participating, Paaka’s choice to race in the Sydney doubles was in the spur of the moment.

“It was a last-minute decision,” Paaka said.

“I was mainly training for the singles Hyrox beforehand.

“There's three different races that use different energy systems.

“A singles race is more aerobic, a doubles race is more anaerobic, like working harder, but then you get that rest in there as well when your partner works.”

Kennedy also added that the relay event, or a team of four, uses a different energy system again as it is “effectively a sprint”.

But despite narrowing her focus for the aerobic-targeted Hyrox singles, Paaka still rocked the competition in her doubles race.

Kennedy and Paaka have competed in multiple Hyrox events across multiple Australian cities, with another date in Perth scheduled this year.

Kennedy’s current times achieved this year place him inside world qualifications, meaning the 36-year-old could set sail to Stockholm, Sweden for this season’s Hyrox World Championship.

The Stockholm race takes place in 2026 and brings together the top Hyrox athletes from around the globe.

“We had Brisbane at the start of the year and we came fifth overall and got a world qualifying ticket that race,” Kennedy said.

“We ended up in the same position again in Sydney, fifth overall, against a really stacked outfit, and got another world qualifying ticket, so it was really good.”

While some competitors are striving for personal bests, Paaka said the stakes were higher for the fitness coaches, with pressure to do well from their clients and an intrinsic drive to be one of the best athletes competing.

“I think as a coach, we've always got that pressure on us to do the best,” Paaka said.

“So going into it, I did have goals of getting onto the podium.

“As I said earlier, the race that I did with my partner was a last-minute decision and I think it's because we both did very well in the singles together.

“So we thought if we paired together, we probably would do even better.”

While Kennedy has claim to a doubles ticket in Stockholm, he won’t be parking his ambitions for the rest of the Hyrox season.

There’s still opportunity for the fitness coach to claim a singles ticket to Sweden, which now becomes his main focus for the Perth-hosted Hyrox.

“I was pretty happy that we got that first go (the doubles world qualification ticket), and it means you can focus on the other races.

“So I'll try in eight weeks in Perth to get a solo ticket.”

The Perth Hyrox occurs on September 5 to 7, while a Melbourne Hyrox event is scheduled for the summer, on December 11 to 14.

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Friday, 21st July 2023

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