A HYROX Relay is the full HYROX race split between a team of four. Each of you runs two of the eight 1km runs and completes the station that follows each one, so every teammate covers 2km of running and two stations, and only one of you is racing at any moment. You hand over with a high-five in a Transition Zone, and the team finishes together: all four of you run to the line after the last wall ball.
What the format leaves open is the interesting part. The official rulebook says which runs and stations each person takes “is entirely up to the team”, so the split is a decision, and so is how you train for it. A relay leg is a quarter of the race, short enough to race far harder than a solo pace allows, and depending on how you split the work it can come with a long cold wait in the middle.
This guide covers how the HYROX Relay works under the Season 26/27 rules, the divisions, age groups and weights, the rules that catch teams out, how to decide who does what, and how to train for the leg you will actually race. Every rule below comes from the official HYROX Season 26/27 Relay rulebook , published on HYROX’s rulebook page . Where the rulebook is silent, we say so.
Key Takeaways
- A HYROX Relay team is four racers: four women, four men, or two women and two men.
- Each member runs exactly two 1km runs and completes the two stations that follow them, and only one member races at a time.
- Who takes which runs and stations is up to the team. A member can race both legs back to back, or race one, hand over and come back later.
- Teammates hand over with a high-five in the Transition Zone. A member racing back to back still has to run through the zone after each station, or the team takes an automatic penalty.
- Relay uses the Open loads, such as a 152kg sled push for men and 102kg for women, both including the sled. In Mixed, each station’s load follows whoever does it.
- Relay has two age groups, Under 40 and 40+, decided by the average age of the four on race day.
- The other three join the last racer at the wall balls through a Relay Entry Point, and all four cross the finish line together.
How a HYROX Relay Works
A HYROX Relay is the solo course raced by four people taking turns: 8km of running and eight stations in a fixed order, with Run 1 leading into Station 1, Run 2 into Station 2, and so on through Station 8, the wall balls. Each member takes two runs and the station after each. The rulebook is explicit that “only one RM [Relay Member] is active at a time whilst the other three are waiting for their turn.”
Everything else about the race is the HYROX you already know. Waves start at scheduled intervals, your start time goes on your arm, and you are expected at the start tunnel 10 minutes before it. Each of the four wears their own timing chip on an ankle, because the rulebook asks for one chip per participant: “Relay = 4 Timing Chips”.
The team also has to be complete before it starts. Section 5.1 says a relay team must consist of four racers, and “starting the race with fewer than four racers present to participate is not permitted.” If one of your four drops out in race week, you cannot start as three.
The Two Ways to Split the Race
The rulebook gives each member two options. You can race both of your runs and stations “consecutively [back to back]”, or race one leg, return to the Transition Zone while a teammate races the next, and come back later for your second.
Those options produce two common shapes. This table shows the course split both ways, in race order.
| Member | Back to back | Alternating |
|---|---|---|
| A | Runs 1 and 2: SkiErg, then sled push | Runs 1 and 5: SkiErg, then rowing |
| B | Runs 3 and 4: sled pull, then burpee broad jumps | Runs 2 and 6: sled push, then farmers carry |
| C | Runs 5 and 6: rowing, then farmers carry | Runs 3 and 7: sled pull, then sandbag lunges |
| D | Runs 7 and 8: sandbag lunges, then wall balls | Runs 4 and 8: burpee broad jumps, then wall balls |
These are patterns, not the only legal options. As long as each member does two runs and the two stations that follow them, the team can mix the shapes, so one member can take both sleds back to back on Runs 2 and 3 and the rest of the order can be built around that.
The Transition Zone and the High-Five
Every handover happens in the Transition Zone, and the rulebook spells out the protocol. When a member finishes their station, they run into the zone and high-five the teammate waiting there. That teammate starts their run, and the member who just finished leaves the zone straight away to keep it clear.
The waiting member may only enter “shortly before the exchange”, and there is no loitering. Getting each person into the zone on time is the team’s job, not the race crew’s, so somebody has to be watching the course and counting down.
The rule that catches back-to-back racers is flagged IMPORTANT in the rulebook. A member racing two legs in a row still has to run through the Transition Zone after each station, so the timing system sees their chip, and “not doing so will result in an automatic penalty.” The rulebook does not say how big that penalty is.
The Finish: All Four at the Wall Balls
The finish is the one moment the whole team races together. Once the fourth member leaves the Transition Zone for Run 8, the other three walk the spectator route to the wall ball station and wait at a marked Relay Entry Point.
They can go in only once the last member has started the wall balls. Then they go straight to their teammate and stand under the rig to support them. After the 100th wall ball, all four run to the Finisher Stage together and cross the line as a team.
HYROX Relay Divisions, Age Groups and Weights
The HYROX Relay has three divisions, Women, Men and Mixed, and a Mixed team is exactly two women and two men. The loads are the Open loads: the relay rulebook’s table matches the Open column station for station, and there is no Pro relay.
This table is every station in race order with its relay load, taken from the Season 26/27 Relay rulebook. Sled loads include the sled.
| Station | Distance or reps | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. SkiErg | 1,000m | Bodyweight | Bodyweight |
| 2. Sled Push | 4 x 12.5m | 102kg | 152kg |
| 3. Sled Pull | 4 x 12.5m | 78kg | 103kg |
| 4. Burpee Broad Jumps | 80m | Bodyweight | Bodyweight |
| 5. Rowing | 1,000m | Bodyweight | Bodyweight |
| 6. Farmers Carry | 200m | 2 x 16kg | 2 x 24kg |
| 7. Sandbag Lunges | 100m | 10kg | 20kg |
| 8. Wall Balls | 100 reps | 4kg, 2.70m target | 6kg, 3.00m target |
Only five of the eight stations carry a load, and the distances and rep counts are the same for everyone. What changes between divisions is the weight on the sleds, the kettlebells, the sandbag and the wall ball.
Mixed Relay: The Load Follows the Athlete
In a Mixed Relay the load is set by whoever does the station. HYROX’s own race page lists every Relay Mixed load as women’s and men’s figures side by side, so a woman on the sled push moves 102kg and a man on the same station moves 152kg. The wall ball rule says the same thing in its own way: female racers hit the women’s target and male racers hit the men’s.
That makes the Mixed split a different calculation from the single-sex divisions, which we come back to below. Every division’s loads, including how Mixed Doubles handles the same question differently, are in our HYROX weights table .
Relay Age Groups
Relay has two age groups, Under 40 and 40+, and the team’s group is set by the average age of its four members on race day. The rulebook’s own example is a team aged 24, 38, 48 and 40: the average is 37.5, so they race Under 40, even with two members of 40 or older.
Every member has to be at least 16 on race day. Results are ranked by division and by age group, fastest first, and they go up on results.hyrox.com as soon as the event ends. Penalties can still be added for up to 48 hours afterwards.
How Relay sits alongside Open, Pro and Doubles is covered in HYROX divisions explained .
HYROX Relay Rules That Catch Teams Out
The relay runs on the same station standards and the same 23-code penalty table as the solo race. At Stations 1 to 7 you get one warning per station, then a time penalty for each further fault, usually 15 seconds, and at the wall balls every fault is a no-rep with no warning. What the relay adds are the team rules, and these are the ones teams trip on.
- The chip has to be seen. If you race back to back, run through the Transition Zone after each station, or the team takes an automatic penalty. Each of the four wears their own chip on an ankle, and racing without one is recorded as Did Not Start (DNS).
- The handover has a timetable. The next member enters the zone only shortly before the exchange, and no one waits around inside it. A teammate who is late to the zone costs the team every second they are late.
- Four people, or no start. A relay team cannot start with fewer than four racers present.
- The weight is yours to pick. At the farmers carry and sandbag lunges, carrying the wrong weight means repeating the whole station with the correct one, and refusing is a disqualification. In Mixed, each member picks the load for their own sex, which is an easy thing to get wrong in a hurried handover.
- Each member counts their own laps. A missed lap costs 3, 5 or 7 minutes depending on how many laps make up each 1km at that venue, and on a one-lap course it is a disqualification. The member running counts, not the three watching.
- The wave is the wave. Starting in an earlier or later wave than your assigned one without approval from the race organisers is a disqualification.
The station standards themselves, the full penalty table and what gets you disqualified are the same for a relay as for a solo race, and all of them are in our guide to the HYROX rules .
How to Pick Who Does What in a HYROX Relay
Start from the stations, not the running. Every member runs exactly 2km whatever the team decides, so the real choice is which two stations each person takes and whether they race them back to back or split. Put each station with the member who is fastest at it, then choose the shape that keeps your best people fresh for the stations that need them most.
Group the Stations by What They Ask For
The eight stations fall into four kinds of work, and most teams have a natural owner for each.
- The sleds (Stations 2 and 3) are the heavy, strength-led stations, 152kg and 103kg for men and 102kg and 78kg for women, and they are where a strong member saves the most time.
- The machines (Stations 1 and 5) are 1,000m each on the SkiErg and the rower, and they reward an engine and an even pace.
- The carries and lunges (Stations 6 and 7) test grip and legs under load, 200m of farmers carry and 100m of sandbag lunges.
- The bodyweight volume (Stations 4 and 8) is 80m of burpee broad jumps and 100 wall balls, and both punish a racer who arrives already blown.
Notice that the course order fixes some pairings. In a back-to-back split, Runs 2 and 3 belong to different people, so the two sleds land on two different members unless you deliberately give both to one person.
Back to Back or Alternating?
Each shape has a cost, and the right one depends on your team.
Back to back means one warm-up and one continuous effort. You race Run 1, your station, Run 2 and your second station without stopping, and your second run is compromised running, straight off a station. The upside is simplicity: three handovers in total against seven in an alternating split, each member’s race is over in one go, and nobody has to restart cold.
Alternating gives every member two separate legs, each one a run followed by a station. Neither of your runs comes off the back of a station, so both start fresh. The cost is the wait: between your two legs, three teammates race theirs, and you have to arrive at the Transition Zone for your second leg ready to race rather than stiff.
If a member is new to HYROX, back to back is the gentler introduction: one effort, one handover, done. If your team has one member who is far stronger on two particular stations, build the order around giving them those two, back to back or not.
Who Takes Run 8 and the Wall Balls
The last member has the most public job in the race. They run Run 8, then do 100 wall balls with their teammates standing under the rig, and wall balls are the one station with no warnings: every rep that misses the target or the depth is a no-rep on the spot.
Give the last leg to someone whose wall ball standard holds up under fatigue, not just the fittest member. In Mixed, remember that the ball and the target follow the athlete, 4kg to 2.70m for a woman and 6kg to 3.00m for a man.
For Mixed Teams: Time It, Do Not Guess It
Because the load in Mixed follows the athlete, the question at each station is not who is strongest in general but who is fastest at their own load. A woman pushing 102kg and a man pushing 152kg are doing different jobs, and only a timed attempt tells you which is quicker for your team.
So test it. In one session before race week, have each candidate do the stations they might take, at their relay load, and time each one. Then build the split from the times rather than from assumptions, while keeping each member to exactly two runs and two stations.
How to Train for a HYROX Relay Leg
A relay leg is 2km of running and two stations, a quarter of the race, which makes it a different stimulus from a solo HYROX. You can race it much harder than any solo pace allows, so the training is built around that effort, around your two stations at race load, and around the shape of your leg: back to back in one go, or split in two with a wait between.
Why a Leg Trains Differently From a Full Race
A solo HYROX is eight runs and eight stations against one clock, and pacing the whole distance is the biggest lever you have. A relay member never has to manage that. Your job is to cover your share as fast as you can and hand over, so the limit moves from how long you can last to how hard you can run 1km and still arrive at your station able to work.
Your leg’s shape changes the training too. In an alternating split, both of your runs start fresh and the hard part is restarting after a cold wait. In a back-to-back split, your second run comes straight off a station, so compromised running is back in the picture, for one run rather than seven.
If you also race solo, the HYROX pace calculator turns a goal finish time into a 1km split. Treat that split as the slowest your relay running should be, not the target: it is built to last 8km, and you only have to hold yours for two.
Train Your Two Stations at Race Load
Train the two stations you will race at the relay loads in the table above, to the race standard. A strong lifter who has never pushed a sled four lengths of 12.5m, changing direction at each end, will find out on race day that a sled push is a skill as well as a strength test. Our HYROX sled push guide covers the technique.
The standards matter as much as the strength. If wall balls are yours, train the full depth and the full target height until both are automatic, because a judge has no warnings to give you at Station 8. The HYROX wall balls guide covers the standard rep by rep.
Rehearse the Leg You Will Race
The most useful session in a relay build is the leg itself, rehearsed at race effort. These are the three sessions worth repeating.
- The leg rehearsal. Run 1km at the effort you intend to race, then go straight into your station or the closest gym version of it. If you race back to back, add the second run and second station without a break. Rest fully, then repeat it.
- The cold restart. If you race alternating legs, race your first leg, then sit down and wait for as long as your teammates’ three legs will take. Warm back up in the last few minutes and race your second leg. It is the part of an alternating relay nobody practises, and the first time you feel it should not be on race day.
- The team practice. Get all four of you together for one session, race the relay in your chosen order with real handovers, and time every leg. It is where you find out whether the split you chose on paper is the fastest one, and it is the only place to rehearse the high-five and who walks where.
Keep Running at the Centre of It
Every member’s running is the same 2km, so it is the one part of the race the split cannot change. Half of each leg by count is a 1km run, and every station starts the moment that run ends, so make 1km repeats at your intended relay effort a regular session.
FAQ
Four people share one HYROX course of eight 1km runs and eight stations. Each member runs two of the 1km runs and completes the station after each one, and only one member races at a time. Teammates hand over with a high-five in the Transition Zone, and all four cross the finish line together after the last wall ball.
Four, and the rulebook does not allow a team to start with fewer than four racers present. A team can be four women, four men, or two women and two men for the Mixed division.
No. The Season 26/27 Relay rulebook says each member has to run 2 x 1km and perform the two corresponding stations. Which runs and stations each person takes is up to the team, but everyone does exactly two of each.
The load at each station follows the person doing it. A woman uses the women's Open loads, such as a 102kg sled push and 4kg wall ball to a 2.70m target, and a man uses the men's, such as a 152kg sled push and 6kg wall ball to a 3.00m target. Sled loads include the sled.
No. You can race both of your runs and stations consecutively, or race one, return to the Transition Zone while a teammate races, and come back later for your second. If you do race back to back, you still have to run through the Transition Zone after each station so your chip is read, or the team takes an automatic penalty.
There are two, Under 40 and 40+. The team's group is decided by the average age of its four members on race day, so a team aged 24, 38, 48 and 40 averages 37.5 and races Under 40. Every member must be at least 16.
Conclusion
A HYROX Relay asks less of each person than a solo race and more of the team. Four of you share 8km and eight stations, each member takes exactly two runs and two stations, and how you divide them is your call. Get the split right, get every member into the Transition Zone on time, and run through the zone on every back-to-back leg so the timing system sees your chip.
Then train for the leg you will race. Rehearse your two stations at the relay load, run 1km hard into them, practise the cold restart if your legs are split, and get the four of you together at least once to time the order you chose.
The part no rulebook covers is the build itself, where four sets of work, sleep and missed sessions meet one race date.
That is what Kracey is for, for your share of it. It is an AI HYROX coach that lives in Telegram, with nothing to install. It reads your training through intervals.icu, so it sees what you actually did rather than what the plan said, and you can move, shorten, swap or skip any session by saying so in the chat. Tell it your race date and the stations you are racing, and it counts the weeks back from there. The first 14 days are free, starting when it can see your training rather than the moment you sign up.