Derek and I in front of Kallang Stadium, Singapore (5/4/26)

There I was, standing outside the Kallang Stadium with my good friend, Derek. My palms were sweaty, knees weak, arms were heavy, no mum’s spaghetti, just in disbelief when I realised that I was there to compete.

I’ve joined races before, but I’d consider Hyrox my first competition in a while. Maybe it was the venue? It reminded me of high school, where I traded sporty opportunities for hidden classrooms with friends and CoD4 lobbies.

We’d exchange weapons in Runescape and share pixelated jokes on Minecraft. Back then, brotherhood meant staying up late on a Tuesday night to play a 5-stack in Dota 2, then laughing about the mistakes we made the next day.

I don’t game anymore because I made a decision to quit 5 years ago. It was tough but necessary.
I thought I missed the games, but I realised I missed the sense of brotherhood.
In reality, it just transformed and during Hyrox, I saw it everywhere.

I saw it in a young father who was participating in the race as his son watched by the sidelines.
A stranger who was gasping for breath but recovered himself when he saw me cheering him on.
A proud grandfather taking pictures of his grandsons smiling during the race.
A friend I could count on before and after the starting line.
And an Asian Peter Griffin who looked like he was going through the start of his villain arc.

Discussing the game plan

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

I’ve quoted this so often because I thought I had it figured out. It sounds like good advice, right? Except I’ve practiced with those words behind barbells so literally that it took a Singaporean Hyrox to realise that it’s also optional to go fast and far, together. In doing so, it exposed my weaknesses and forced me to confront them head on.

In my case, having Derek run ahead of me made me realise that I needed to work on my speed. He was undoubtedly the faster runner between us and it made me question my overall pace. Not just in the race, but also in life.

Why was I running Hyrox like a marathon?
Why do I keep reserving energy for the next thing?
How and where does Derek apply speed in his life?
What other aspects of my life could I improve on if I acted with speed?

If life’s a marathon, not a sprint… but Hyrox is. Then, what’s the Hyrox of life?

That’s a question I’ve been grappling with since the end of the race. By society’s standards, I’d say it’s getting married, starting a family, buying a nice car and a big house or two. But aside from that? I think it depends on your priorities. Maybe you want to be a millionaire in the next 2 years, lose weight in the next 10 months, or travel to Japan by November. Whatever it is, mark it down. Because you don’t need an event to run a marathon alone, but a Hyrox is seasonal – like opportunities in life. Some doors don’t stay open forever and if you intend to live life to the fullest, you have to act with more urgency.

Dropping the philosophy, I feel like Hyrox is a privilege. It may be overrated, but it’s also a cleverly-marketed, adequately measured dose of suffering. Many have paid for less and suffered for more, so imagine paying to do it lol. It comes, it goes, you take some pictures and the next thing you know, it’s old news.

By the end of it, you start to wonder if you really did all that just for a rectangular velcro patch. To which, I want to say no, because I made the choice to participate, and while it is a personal milestone, I understand how easy it is to get drunk on these achievements. But if there’s anything I want to achieve by doing this, it’s to remind my brotherhood that you may not be who you envision yourself to be right now, but don’t worry. Life isn’t a linear pacman game, it’s more like an open-world rpg.

Side quest with the boys, fight the hard bosses, get the princess, lose her, buy the shiny item, miss a few shots.
Just don’t stay idle.

Hyrox Singapore velcro patches