By Mark McCadden

Copyright irishmirror

He is “riding this wave of Hyrox” all the way to this November’s event in Dublin. Hyrox ambassador Rob James has been hooked on the global fitness craze ever since he was disqualified from his first event in Glasgow in 2022. With almost 30 races now behind him – from Manchester to London to Berlin to the World Championships in Nice – James is a veteran at this stage. So who better for a bunch of Hyrox novices to learn from than the ultra-experienced, super-fit star of this sporting phenomenon. James paid a visit to Gorey in Co Wexford last week to offer tips and advice to a group of journalists and content creators, including Fitter Happier. The setting was The Stables – a working farm that has been transformed into one of Ireland’s premier gym experiences, where barns have been turned into workout spaces with state-of-the-art equipment, and some of the property’s vast acres into a gruelling, but fun obstacle course. Red Bull assembled this rag-tag cast of media folk, fed us and put us up in the gorgeous Marfield House Hotel. The energy drinks giant also convinced top coach John Belton – probably against his better judgement – to lead this two-day bootcamp. Puma provided some of their latest Hyrox gear, and C11 Recovery the ice baths, compression boots and massages. And they flew Rob in to show us how best to face the many challenges that a Hyrox throws up – and then to join us in a full simulation to round off day one of our experience. The camp began with a talk from Padraig Cullen and Sam Carey from Output Sports, a sports technology company, who then measured some key Hyrox performance metrics. This is going to provide a baseline for each participant as we continue to train with John in the weeks leading up to the November Hyrox at the RDS. A quick chat about the history of Red Bull (the company founder discovered the drink when he saw tuktuk drivers in Bangkok downing bottles of a mysterious liquid to keep their energy levels up during long shifts) followed. Rob gave some of his top Hyrox tips, we were treated to a delicious lunch and by 2pm it was time for the Hyrox sim. The runs involved laps of The Stables, while all the equipment for each of the stations were located indoors, offering respite from the constant drizzle. By the end, everyone was wrecked but delighted to have completed the course, knowing that recovery, dinner and a few well-deserved drinks were waiting for us, ahead of day two (some more chats and challenges, and then the obstacle course!). It was a chance to talk to Rob about his Hyrox experiences and why he believed the wildly popular sport had taken the world by storm. “My first one was Glasgow in 2022. I ended up getting disqualified,” he said. “What happened was, I missed the burpees station. You get a time penalty if you miss a station, but instead of carrying on, in my head I thought, I want to know what time I’d get if I did them. “So after the next station I went back and did the burpees. But I crossed the gate twice, which meant two time penalties, which meant I was disqualified. “But I’ll never forget that race. You never get that feeling from any other race. Your first race is the best feeling ever. I got the train by myself, I had no idea what I was doing, and I fell in love from that day. “From there I needed redemption. So, my second race, I came first overall doing a doubles with a lad called Marc Dean in Switzerland. St Gallen. “I was basically holding onto his shoe laces, running as fast as I could around the track. That was a really good race – 52 minutes or something like that.” The story of Rob’s journey into the world of fitness is one of tragedy and resilience. “I lost my son,” he said. “He was only with us for one day. We were all looking forward to meeting him, but he passed away quite early. “My head fully came off my shoulders, I was trying to be there for my missus at the time. It’s a very touchy subject. The strange thing is, no one talks about it. None of your friends or family talk to you about it. It was a very weird place. “I didn’t want to go down the whole depression road, taking loads of tablets, so I was going out training three to four times a day, trying to put myself in this state. “That’s where the fitness side of it came from, I was just chasing my way out of this hole. “I ended up doing some crossfit competitions, I got really high on the scoreboard, and I thought, let’s channel this into something and do something with it.” It led him to setting up his own gym, which soon outgrew its original home, while his social media following exploded. “We’re riding this wave of Hyrox, it’s just crazy how big it’s getting,” he said. “The community, I’ve never seen anything like it in any other sport, because it’s so accessible to everybody. “Everybody can do all the stations, so it’s accessible to everybody. It’s just how fast you want to go. “There is such a backing behind everyone. You meet these people all over the world. It’s like a big family.” Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email .