The Race Brain Drop vol. 24

Looking Ahead to Melbourne

We are one week from the second Major of the season. The Individual Races will take place Friday evening (12/12) in Melbourne with a 4 PM start for the women and 7 PM for the men. Not ideal for fans in the States—those start times translate to midnight and 3 AM ET.

The event will follow the Hamburg Major format, with a dedicated arena for Elite 15 racing—a setup that brought a great viewing experience. So, make sure to tune in on the HYROX Youtube.

Men’s Walk-In Order

🇬🇧 Marc Dean (England)
🇬🇧 Liam Mccroary (England)
🇬🇧 Graham Halliday (Scotland)
🇳🇱 Maarten Enthoven (Netherlands)
🇸🇮 Alen Ploj (Slovenia)
🇬🇧 Jake Dearden (England)
🇳🇿 Beau Wills (New Zealand)
🇬🇧 Charlie Botterill (England)
🇬🇧 Josh Van Zeeland (England → Australia-based)
🇨🇦 Cole Learn (Canada)
🇮🇪 Sean Noble (Ireland)
🇦🇺 Jonathon Wynn (Australia)
🇺🇸 Hunter McIntyre (USA)
🇦🇺 James Kelly (Australia)
🇩🇪 Tim Wenisch (Germany)

Men’s Field Notes

Four athletes with APAC region ties made the race. Kelly and Van Zeeland currently reside in Australia while Wills (New Zealand) and Wynn (Australia) will be making a trip back home
McIntyre will be the lone American making the trip (Dylan Scott and Rich Ryan declined their spots). This will be his first Individual race back since World Champs in June.
The United Kingdom is well represented with 6 participants
Cole Learn (Canada) and Alen Ploj (Slovenia) are the first men to represent their countries in an individual Elite race
On paper, the slowest entrant in the field is Marc Dean with a 56:36 two race average
This will be the debut individual Elite race for 7 athletes
All three men who qualified in Hamburg are not making the trip. So, the podium will also be the World Champs qualifiers.

Women’s Walk-In Order

🇦🇹 Tanja Stroschneider (Austria)
🇬🇧 Sophia Parvizi Wayne (England)
🇬🇧 Zara Piergianni (England)
🇫🇮 Elli Stenfors (Finland)
🇬🇧 Kat Parnell (England)
🇪🇸 Manuela García Caparrós (Spain)
🇦🇺 Jess Pettrow (Australia)
🇳🇿 Gabrielle Nikora-Baker (New Zealand)
🇨🇭 Melanie Maurer (Switzerland)
🇩🇪 Seka Arning (Germany)
🇬🇧 Lucy Procter (England)
🇬🇧 Sinéad Bent (England)
🇦🇺 Joanna Wietrzyk (Australia)
🇺🇸 Lauren Weeks (USA)
🇩🇪 Linda Meier (Germany)

Women’s Field Notes

After qualifying in Hamburg, Vivian Tafuto chose not to make the trip. Depending on where Weeks and Wietrzyk finish, the Worlds qualifying spot can go as low as 5th place.
After quickly becoming a crowd favorite and finishing 4th in Chicago, Sinéad Bent is making her season debut
This will be the first Individual Elite race for 5 ladies in the field (Parvizi-Wayne, Stenfors, Parnell, García Caparrós, and Nikora-Baker). This will also be the first time that Finland, Spain and New Zealand are represented in the women’s Elite field.
The roll down only went to 18th place where Stroschneider got in with a 1:01:59 average
5 women will be representing for England

This Weekend in HYROX

🇬🇧 HYROX London

The largest HYROX ever with ~40,000 competitors over 4 days.
1-lap course, 100-person waves, 80+ Doubles per start block—insane scale.
Could be the fastest course yet based on Day One performances.

Top Men (Day One):

Luke Greer – PR by 2:55
Graham Halliday – PR by 1:24
Jamie Pratt – PR by 1:48

Top Women (Day One):

Charlie Searle – PR by :29
Jess Towl – PR by 1:51
Chloe Cook – PR by 10:51 (!)

If HYROX validates these times, we could see a serious leaderboard shuffle.

🇮🇹 HYROX Verona

First-ever 3-day event for this Northern Italian city
Great momentum building across Europe.

This Week on Race Brain (and elsewhere...)

🎙️ Jack Driscoll has raced every single U.S. and Canadian HYROX this fall. He’s climbing steadily toward the Elite 15—check out the interview with Matt.