How to time and score a Hyrox style simulation event

People will forgive a late heat. They will not forgive a fuzzy result. If you are going to time and score a Hyrox style simulation event, pick a clock, pick a sheet, and pick a rule for unfinished work before the first athlete starts. Then publish the times where the room can see them.

This pairs with how to run a Hyrox sim at your gym and with how to build heat sheets for a gym fitness race. The setup guide is the Heatsheet version of the same sheet. Sign up if you want the live board. Pricing stays free until you want broadcast and heat seeding.

Decide what the number means

In a Hyrox style sim, the result that matters is total time from the gun to the last good wall ball, plus the runs in between. You are not scoring points. You are not adding a second for a no rep unless you have a published penalty system, and most gyms should not invent one on the morning of.

Write this on the briefing slide:

1. Official result is total time.
2. Station splits are optional and for coaching.
3. A missed station or a missed run is a DNF, not a creative estimate.
4. A time cap is a DNF or a capped rank, and you will say which before the start.
5. DNS is for people who never started, not for people who started and walked off.

If you change those rules after heat 2, you do not have a race. You have an argument.

One clock per heat, not one clock per opinion

Give each heat a start everyone can hear. A horn is nice. A person yelling "three, two, one, go" works if they stand where the whole heat can see them.

From that start, you have two honest ways to get a finish time.

Running clock: a visible timer starts at zero for that heat. When the athlete finishes, a judge reads the clock, or the athlete crosses a marked line in view of the scorer. Place it where it cannot get kicked, and run a backup phone from the same start.

Chip or bib timing: a start mat and a finish mat. Cleaner when the field is big. Also a new thing to fail. If you use chips, keep a running clock as a protest backup. Someone's chip will sit in the car.

Do not let station judges keep finish times in a notes app. Splits never override the finish. If two people finish close, the finish judge is the only voice.

What the scoring sheet has to hold

You need one row per athlete or team, and a small number of columns the board can trust.

1. Number, meaning bib or a stable ID.
2. Name, and partner name for doubles.
3. Total Time, in one format per tab.
4. A place to mark DNF or DNS without deleting the row.

Divisions live on separate tabs if you want a clean leaderboard. Open Women does not belong in the same ranked list as Open Men unless you are running a single mixed field on purpose.

Time format is where gyms get sloppy. Pick one and lock it. H:MM:SS is enough for a full sim. MM:SS is enough for a short workout. Format the column as a duration in Google Sheets, then type the same way every time.

A blank total time means still on course, or not yet entered. It should not appear as 0:00 on the public board. DNF and DNS should appear as unranked, visible, and honest. Members would rather see DNF than see a name vanish.

Keep working notes on a tab that starts with a star, like *Notes, so they never hit the public board. Judge comments do not belong next to official times.

Manual scoring without losing the plot

Most gym sims are scored by one person with a sheet and a view of the finish. Treat that person as a station. They do not judge wall balls. They do not answer "when is my heat". They enter times.

1. Floor lead starts the heat on the clock.
2. Finish judge watches the line and calls bib then time, or bib then "DNF".
3. Scorer repeats it back and types it.
4. If the board is live, glance once that the name appeared. Then look back up.

Repeat back is the whole trick. "Bib 12, 41:07" "12, 41:07" saved more races than a fancy app. If the finish is clustered, the finish judge writes bibs on paper in order, then the scorer types after the cluster.

For doubles, one time per team. If both athletes must finish, the clock stops on the second person. Say that out loud.

DNF, DNS, no reps, and the time cap

DNS: never started. They stay in the division list so the field count stays true, and they do not get a rank.

DNF: started and did not complete the course as written. Missed a run. Missed a station. Stopped. Hit a time cap if your cap is a DNF. They appear on the board as DNF, usually at the bottom, not as a made up time.

No reps: the station judge makes the athlete do the work to standard. You do not add seconds later unless you already published a penalty table, which I would not. A Hyrox style simulation event is a time trial. The penalty is that the clock is still running while they repeat the wall ball.

Time cap: pick it when you pick the format. A cap exists to free the floor for the next heat. "We cap at 60 minutes. If you are still on course, you get DNF and you can finish for fun off the clock." That sentence prevents a long negotiation at 59:40.

Protests: one person hears them, after the heat, not during. The scorer keeps scoring. If you change a time, you change it in the sheet, and the live board follows. You do not announce a new result from memory.

Put the results where the room can see them

If you type times into a Google Sheet, a live leaderboard can follow that sheet. Rank, name, time, podium marks. Athletes check their phones. The broadcast view on a TV turns the gym into a venue for the cost of an HDMI cable. That is what Heatsheet is for, and it is the part members screenshot.

Update as finishes happen, not in batches of ten. A board that jumps once every fifteen minutes feels broken even when the times are right. A board that ticks when bib 12 finishes feels like a race.

After the last heat, the official result should already be the public result. If you need to correct a bib, correct it, and the board updates. Then export podium graphics for each division and post them while people are still in their shirts. The setup guide covers the sheet columns, heat enable, and the export. Pricing is free for the board, paid for the TV view and the graphics.

Judging and scoring have to agree

Times are only as good as the standards. If wall balls are squat depth in heat 1 and a courtesy nod in heat 6, you scored two different workouts.

Give judges one sentence per station. SkiErg is damper and a full 1000 m. Sled is the marked lane and the marked load. Farmers carry is the handles and the distance. You can be stricter than a licensed event, or slightly kinder, as long as you are the same all morning.

The scorer does not reinterpret judging. If a judge says DNF, it is DNF. The floor lead is the only person who can overrule, and they should do it rarely, with both people present.

If you remember only three things: a clean sheet, a single clock, and a public board open before heat 1. A Hyrox style simulation event that ends with a trusted time, a visible rank, and a photo of the top three will sell the next one without a marketing meeting.

You do not need a truck of timing gear. You need rules that fit on a slide, a sheet you own, and a place to publish. Sign up and put the board up for the next sim. Read the setup guide once. Pay later, on pricing, if you want the full screen view and heats filled for you.