Former College Runner Matt Wilpers Finishes First Solo Hyrox in Boston in 1:11:21

• Peloton instructor and former Georgia State distance runner Matt Wilpers finished his first solo Hyrox at HYROX Boston on October 10 in 1:11:21, placing 130th among 1,900 men.
• His eight kilometers of running ranked 35th in the field while his station work ranked 392nd, a gap of 357 places that shows where runners gain and lose time.
• Wilpers started with a doubles race in Miami Beach in April, a path first-timers can copy.

Where a Fast Runner Wins and Loses Time at Hyrox

Matt Wilpers ran the eight kilometers of his first solo Hyrox at about four minutes per kilometer, a pace of 6:24 per mile. Only 34 men in a field of 1,900 covered the running faster at HYROX Boston on Saturday, October 10. Then he met the stations.

The Peloton instructor finished in 1:11:21, which placed him 130th among the 1,900 men’s results and 12th in the 40-44 age group, according to Hyresult figures reported by The Clip Out. The race ran inside the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in the Seaport District as part of an October 8-11 race weekend. It was his second Hyrox and his first in the singles category.

For scale, Dylan Scott, the reigning world champion, won the men’s pro race that weekend in 54:42, according to Rox Lyfe. Wilpers raced in a different division, and his result lands in the top 7 percent of a field that includes thousands of everyday gym-goers.

A Peloton Instructor With a Distance Runner’s Background

Wilpers competed as an NCAA Division I distance runner at Georgia State University. He has completed Ironman-distance triathlons and holds certification as a running coach. He has finished the Tokyo, Berlin, Chicago, Boston and New York City marathons, and he raced London in April.

Peloton brought him into its Hyrox program this year. The 12-week HYROX Training Program, which Robin Arzon and Andy Speer co-lead, started February 27, and Wilpers was one of 12 instructors who contributed. His share was the running. At a Peloton x HYROX Power-Up event in Washington, D.C., in March, Speer named Wilpers among his picks for a Hyrox relay team and stressed the importance of running.

Splits That Show Where Runners Gain and Lose Time

Hyrox alternates a one-kilometer run with a workout station, eight times over. The stations come in a fixed order: 1,000 meters on the SkiErg, a 50-meter sled push, a 50-meter sled pull, 80 meters of burpee broad jumps, 1,000 meters on the rower, a 200-meter farmers carry, 100 meters of sandbag lunges and 100 wall ball reps. The transition area between each run and station is called the Roxzone, and the clock keeps running there too.

His running time of 31:48 ranked 35th of 1,900 men. His station time of 34:44 ranked 392nd. The Roxzone took him 4:49, good for 167th. Held for five kilometers, his running pace works out to a 5K near 19:50.

His running rank sat 357 places better than his station rank, which puts him in the top 2 percent for running and the top 7 percent overall. Add the three numbers and the stations took more clock time than the running: 34:44 against 31:48. Each of the eight stations asks for work a road runner rarely trains, such as pushing a loaded sled, carrying kettlebells and grinding through 100 wall balls on tired legs.

The Clip Out reported that other Boston racers found some sled lanes harder than expected. Wilpers did not mention it. Before the race, he joked in Instagram stories about wall balls, his least favorite station, which come last, after seven other stations and all eight kilometers of running.

The Doubles Race That Came First

Boston was not his debut. Wilpers announced his first Hyrox from a live Peloton ride on March 14, the day before the NYC Half Marathon, and raced Legendz HYROX Miami Beach at the Miami Beach Convention Center the first weekend of April. He entered Open Doubles with partner Eric Rivera and finished in 1:03:06, 40th among men’s doubles teams and ninth in his age group.

In doubles, both partners run every kilometer together and split the work at each station. That format gave Wilpers a debut where a teammate shared the sleds and the wall balls while he ran. The singles race in Boston removed that help, and the splits show what he carried alone.

The Clip Out reports that Wilpers has set a goal of finishing a solo Hyrox in under 60 minutes at a New York City event later this year. His Boston time sits 11 minutes and 21 seconds above that mark. His ranks suggest the stations hold more of that time than the running does.

What First-Timers Can Take From a Race Built on Running

Hyrox began in Germany in 2017 and has grown fast. The Boston Globe reported in April that more than 1.5 million people in 30 countries have competed in at least one race, with ages ranging from 16 to 85, and that more than 15,000 gyms worldwide serve as official training facilities. Start waves run continuously, so nobody finishes at the back of a pack.

Racers in the Globe’s reporting describe the draw in personal terms. Helen Ogunjimi, 41, a Chicago personal trainer, said, “I’m building my engine.” Jessica Thompson, 39, an adaptive athlete who raced in Atlanta, said, “I was used to being told everything I couldn’t do.” Wilpers sits at the fast end of that same field.

His two races offer a template for newcomers. Start in doubles if a training partner is available, so a teammate shares the stations. Learn the station order and practice the sled push, sled pull and wall ball work in a gym before race day. Runners who already hold a steady pace on the road have a head start on the eight kilometers, and Wilpers’ ranks show the stations are where time is left to find.

His next test is the New York City Marathon in a few weeks. The Hyrox attempt he has aimed at New York comes after that, and the Boston splits have already told him which half of the race to train.