A simulation day sells itself to members who already train for fitness races. The harder job is reaching everyone else: the runner who has never done a sled push, the friend who comes to watch, the athlete from across town who has never heard of your gym. This guide sets out a six-week plan, what to say to members and non-members, how to use the day itself as content, and how to handle names and photos properly.
SimDay is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by HYROX or DEKA (Spartan).
Name the event, not the brand
Give your event its own name: “Winter Sim Day”, “Hybrid Race Sim”, “Northside Engine Day”. A generic name is yours to keep, works on every platform and does not tie you to someone else’s rules.
Brand owners take this seriously. HYROX’s affiliation guidelines for licensed training clubs allow the title “HYROX Training Club” alongside the gym’s name, but tell clubs not to use titles such as “HYROX Event” or “HYROX Camp”, not to put HYROX in a business name and not to create designs that might confuse their affiliation with the brand. If licensed clubs are held to that, an unaffiliated gym should be more careful still. Describing your event as “a HYROX-style simulation” in body copy is a description, not a brand, but check the current brand and training-club rules before using any race name in your marketing, and never use official logos. This is not legal advice.
The six-week timeline
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| 6 weeks out | Fix the date, name, formats, divisions and prices. Build the ticket page, including the photo and leaderboard notice. Open member early access. |
| 5 weeks out | Open non-member tickets. Contact local run clubs. First public post: what the day is and who it is for. |
| 4 weeks out | Start sim prep classes. Post short station videos showing each standard. |
| 3 weeks out | Recruit judges and volunteers. Post a “first-timers’ guide” for non-members. |
| 2 weeks out | Final push on remaining places. Draft heats and share the start-time window. |
| 1 week out | Publish start times and the athlete briefing, including display names and photo opt-outs. |
| Race day | TV board on, photos and clips of athletes who have not opted out, split cards ready. |
| Day 1 to 2 after | Results and split cards out, volunteer thank-yous, personal follow-up to every non-member. |
| Weeks 2 to 8 after | Feedback form, re-test date, announce the next event. |
Price before you promote. The pricing guide works through costs, ticket fees and break-even.
Member communications
Members need fewer messages but better ones. Announce in person first: coaches mention it at the start of every class in the launch week, and the whiteboard says when member early access closes.
Then back it up in writing, in the channels members already read:
- Launch email or app message. Date, formats, member price, early-access deadline, and one line for nervous first-timers: “Every station has a scaled division.”
- Member chat. A short post, then a reminder two days before early access closes. More than that is noise.
- Sim prep classes. A mini sim class on the timetable gives members a taste of the format and gives coaches a natural moment to sign people up.
Make the event accessible as well as hard. Wodify’s case study (vendor content) reports that Sisu Fitness’s half-distance option brought in athletes who would not have entered the full race; a half sim or doubles division does the same job in your gym.
Reaching non-members
Partner with run clubs. Local run clubs are full of fit people who have never pushed a sled and are curious. Offer a club discount, a relay division where club teams can enter together, or a joint session in the weeks before. The run-club relay guide covers formats that suit a club. Ask the club to share one post; a recommendation from their own run leader is worth more than your advert.
Write for first-timers. Non-members worry about being last, about not knowing the standards and about not knowing anyone. One post that answers those three worries (“Scaled divisions, a briefing before every heat, and you can enter as a pair”) does more than ten hype posts.
Bring a friend. Doubles entries where one partner is a member and one is not are the easiest way to get a non-member through the door.
The day itself is the content
Split cards. SimDay makes a shareable split card for each athlete. Athletes post their own results, tag the gym and reach their friends, which is better reach than anything you post yourself. Mention the cards at the briefing so people know to look for them.
The TV leaderboard. A live TV board showing splits as judges tap them gives spectators a reason to stay and gives you footage: a short clip of the board as a close finish lands, filmed with the athletes’ agreement, is a stronger post than a photo of the warm-up.
Photos and clips. Plan a few shots: each heat at the start, the sled, the finish line, the podium. Leave out anyone who has opted out.
Names, photos and the public leaderboard
Athletes’ names and times on a TV, and photos of them on your social media, are personal data in most cases, so handle them deliberately. The ICO’s guidance on taking photographs is written for schools, but says managers of small groups and clubs may also find it helpful. It says that if someone can be recognised from a photograph it is usually their personal data, that you need a lawful basis, that you must tell people upfront what you will do with it, and that where possible you should give them the chance to opt out. It also notes that offering an opt-out is not the same as relying on consent as your lawful basis. The ICO’s related page says its photo guidance is under review following the Data (Use and Access) Act, so check for updates.
In practice:
- Say it on the ticket page. Explain that the event will be photographed and filmed for the gym’s social media, that names and times appear on the live leaderboard and in shared results, and how to opt out.
- Ask for a display name. On the entry form, ask which name each athlete wants shown in public: full name, first name and initial, or a nickname. Enter that name in your heats, so it is the one that appears on the TV board and split cards.
- Make opt-outs visible on the day. A coloured wristband or a dot on the bib tells the photographer at a glance.
- Take extra care with under-18s, and involve parents or guardians.
Outside the UK the rules differ; check what applies to you. This is not legal advice.
Converting drop-in athletes
Wodify’s case study reports that Sisu Fitness’s first sim drew 120 registrants, many of whom had never heard of the gym before. That is vendor-reported, but it shows who a sim reaches. Those athletes are warm leads for about a week.
- Put the offer in the ticket. A free week or a class pass for non-members, mentioned at checkout and again at the finish.
- Follow up personally within 48 hours. Send their split card, one line about their best station, and one specific offer with a date. A coach’s name on the message matters more than the design.
- Give them a reason to come back. Sisu Fitness, per the same case study, runs its half-distance sim as a recurring benchmark. Announce a re-test date at the awards, so the next step is already in the diary.
- Export the results. The CSV export gives you entries and times in one file for your follow-up list. Only contact people in the ways they agreed to on the entry form.
After the event
Send a short feedback form to everyone, thank judges and volunteers by name in the member chat, and write your own fix list while it is fresh. Then announce the next date. For running the day itself, see how to run a fitness race simulation, and build your heats, judge sheets and split cards in SimDay, free during the beta.