Hyrox has a shoe problem, and this elite athlete thinks he can solve it
Rich Ryan has developed a shoe to meet the three most important demands of hybrid racing: speed, grip and stability
Rich Ryan
Rich Ryan has spent years trying to find the perfect shoe for Hyrox. The Arvada, Colo., athlete has raced in some of the biggest names in the super-shoe world, including the Saucony Endorphin Pro, Puma Deviate Nitro Elite and Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro and Pro Lo. But every shoe seemed to require some kind of compromise. So he decided to develop his own shoe.
Ryan is the co-founder of AXIS, a new footwear brand built specifically around hybrid racing. Its first shoe, the Output, is designed to meet the tricky the demands of Hyrox race: running performance, grip and stability. “I believe there are three parts of hybrid racing performance that matter the most when it comes to choosing a shoe,” Ryan tells Canadian Running. “They are outsole grip for the sled carpets, running performance, and station stability for things like lunges, wall balls and farmer’s carries.”
The idea became possible when David Hill, Ryan’s now-business partner, reached out to him. Hill had the footwear industry experience and manufacturing relationships to turn Ryan’s ideas into a shoe. Another important factor: Hill was also a Hyrox athlete. Ryan felt it was important to serve the hybrid community instead of simply jumping on what looked like an opportunity to make money. “Having a partner who is aligned and part of the community was huge,” he says.
A shoe built for more than running
Ryan isn’t arguing that traditional running shoes are bad for Hyrox; it’s just that they’re designed for something else–forward propulsion. They often feature curved geometry designed to move athletes forward quickly. As a result, they don’t perform as naturally during the functional stations of Hyrox. This can become a liability when athletes are moving laterally or loading their shoes during stations.
“When you move in any direction other than forward, they immediately feel unstable,” Ryan says. “It’s not impossible to do squats and wall balls in a running shoe, but it’s far from ideal.” He experienced those compromises himself. After trying a range of super shoes, he says he never found one that delivered all three pieces of the Hyrox puzzle: speed, grip and stability.
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“The shoes [I’ve used in the past] covered two of the three fairly well,” he says. “But at the end of the day, I always felt I was playing a game of trade-offs.” Grip eventually became one of his biggest priorities, particularly on the carpet used for sled work. Ryan also changed his mind about the importance of stability. “I used to think it didn’t matter, but I experienced firsthand how much time I lost on lunges and farmer’s carries because of a bad option,” Ryan says.
The Output is designed around those lessons. With a stack height of 34 mm in the heel and 30 mm in the forefoot, the shoe has roughly 6 mm less cushioning than many super shoes and some existing hybrid racers. The lower stack not only makes the the shoe feel closer to the ground; Ryan says it also allowed AXIS to build a wider platform and add aggressive outsole lugs designed specifically for Hyrox carpet without adding excessive weight.
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Who is it actually for?
Ryan says the Output isn’t just for elite athletes, who are often capable of compensating for equipment compromises. For the broader Hyrox field, a shoe that performs well across every element of the race could be more useful than one optimized exclusively for running.
For athletes who don’t see the need for a dedicated Hyrox shoe, Ryan has a simple comparison. “If given the choice, would you run a marathon in a basketball shoe? Would you do a triathlon on a mountain bike?” he says. “Hyrox in a super shoe is not much different.”
What’s next?
AXIS plans to bring full-size wear-test shoes to Hyrox Denver from Nov. 12-15, where athletes will be able to try the Output. The company expects its first production run to be ready in early 2027. For Ryan, however, the goal isn’t simply to put another shoe on the market; he wants to demonstrate that hybrid racing deserves footwear designed around its specific demands. “AXIS is built from the community, and we only serve hybrid racing athletes,” he says. “If we can make products that serve these athletes and make a dent in the market, the big companies will need to take notice, which hopefully will push them to innovate products within the sport.”
