Former Hyrox Coach Launches China’s Own Fitness Competition

More than 5,000 competitors turned out for BTWE’s first event last month, and organizers plan to expand it into a tourism draw and a fitness event grounded in cultural authenticity. That said, Hyrox has big plans of its own in China

China just got its own homegrown answer to Hyrox, and the man behind it is Hyrox’s former head coach for the country.

BetterWE, branded as BTWE, held its debut event June 20-21 in Changsha, drawing nearly 5,000 competitors to the Hunan International Convention and Exhibition Center, according to Jing Daily.

Behind the new fitness competition is Sam Hui, who, aside from his time at Hyrox, is the former strength and conditioning head coach for the CBA’s Beijing Ducks, according to his Instagram page.

The format offers competitors four modules, each pairing an 800-meter run with a cardiovascular exercise and a strength-based movement drawn from a list that includes rows, sled pushes, sled pulls, burpees, erg bikes, lunges, skis and ball-over-wall. Divisions cover men’s and women’s singles, doubles and four-person relay teams, spanning entry-level participants through elite crossover athletes, with a total prize pool of 350,000 RMB (roughly $51,700), according to the publication.

BTWE plans to gradually enter additional cities in the future and build a nationwide competition network that drives tourism and highlights its culture, according to the Changsha Evening News.

“Hyrox has made the world pay attention to physical competitions. We hope to let the world see that China can also give birth to its own physical competition IP,” a BTWE organizer, whom the publication did not name, told the outlet. The event, the source added, should not be “just a few hours of competition” but “a weekend, a journey.”

Though there is an invitation to linger, the first event drew Davide Liu, an athlete with a serious international racing schedule. 

In a post sharing his BTWE results on Instagram, Liu said he finished fourth overall and third in his age group in the pro division, then took first overall in the relay division alongside three teammates. He said the Changsha races came directly after a 20-kilometer UTMB trail race in Japan the day before, requiring a flight from Japan to Hong Kong, an overnight stay at the Hong Kong airport, and a flight to Changsha the next morning.

Hyrox, for its part, has been on a tear across Asia. NPR reported earlier this year that the competition’s Bangkok debut sold out within 18 hours, according to Richard Cowley, Hyrox’s director for events in Asia. Cowley said participation across the continent has doubled in the past year, with demand fueled by a broader fitness boom among young people turning to everything from Pilates to pickleball.

Hyrox has several events coming up in China, including in Beijing and Shanghai.

The fitness-racing juggernaut has also been expanding elsewhere through new partnerships.

In May, Hyrox signed a three-year deal with World Gym, bringing Hyrox training into the operator’s 140 corporate-owned clubs in Taiwan and giving roughly 500,000 members access to race-specific workouts, satellite challenges and mini events. World Gym also plans to extend the partnership into Thailand as it expands there later this year.

Back in the U.S., competition is coming for Hyrox. 

Adidas-affiliated ATHX, which launched in the U.K., made its U.S. debut in Miami this year as part of a 14-event global tour, and the brand is also working to build out an affiliate gym network and standardized training programs. Its format runs a 2.5-hour continuous competition across six zones spanning strength, endurance and metabolic conditioning, with movements including strict press, squat, deadlift, running, rowing and burpee broad jumps.

Xenom has also entered the space with $15 million in funding, billing itself as the “decathlon of fitness” built for elite functional fitness athletes. Established operators are moving in, too. F45 Training launched Peak500, a 30-minute in-studio competition with Red Bull, while Life Time’s LT Games drew 150 athletes from 25 states in its debut last year.