NEW YORK CITY HYROX - PIER 76

This was our first doubles race.

We built a serious connection in the concrete jungle.

Room 204 was magical.

May 29 - June 1, 2025 

Hyrox Event #3 - New York City 

This was a fun weekend. Pretty sure it was hatched at Hyrox #2 in Las Vegas in Feb 2025. 

We had registered as solo competitors back when we were still friends and did not have all the logistics sorted yet. 

Our initial plan was to travel to NYC together, have separate beds in the hotel, compete and head home on Sunday. Well that all changed when we started our relationship on April 18th. 

We no longer needed separate beds, so booked a less expensive hotel room with a King and used the savings to sign up for the Hyrox Open Mixed Doubles - Friday Night Lights Edition - on Pier 76 in Midtown Manhattan. 

The anticipation of this event was electric. 

One of our first road trips as a couple, and our first Hyrox Doubles competitions together. 

We drove down on Thursday, and had a bit of a run in with the parking lot attendants at the hotel when we arrived. Not much of a story here, but we were just not used to handing the car keys to strangers so things got a little heated. They were just trying to do their jobs. But Nicole thought her car was going to be stolen.

Upon checking into the hotel room, we were surprised by just how small the room was. Regardless, Room 204 became our base of operations. 

After our ritual grocery store run, and a quick recce of the Pier 76 venue, we settled into the hotel room and rested up for what was to become quite the memorable weekend. 

Friday morning started with a hotel room coffee & breakfast &. We then meandered down to the ferry terminal and hopped aboard one that was headed for Staten Island. 

We enjoyed the gentle breeze as we plodded along the harbour past the buildings, the Statue of Liberty and onward to the island. 

Once we were on the island, we found a nice park bench and got cozy. 

It was at that time I looked at Nicole and said my first “I Love You” to her.

It was a melty moment. 

The sun was shining and the air was filled with promise…it felt like a dream. The rest of the day felt like we were floating in the clouds. 

We had to snap to attention and go “Pro Mode” when we got back to the hotel that afternoon, as we had our Hyrox Doubles event at 1930hrs. 

We got focused, went to the venue and kicked some ass!!

It was sooo fun to be out on the pier running under the lights with the harbour air providing a cool breeze as we watched the sun set and cycled through the runs and the stations. 

Woo hoo…the vibe was supercharged! 

We were jacked by our 1:14 completion time. Solid work! 

Upon return to Room 204, we were invigorated by the days events and the Hyrox performance and did not want the day to end. But we had to rest up as we had a big day ahead. 

After fuelling the following Saturday morning and a walk to get the blood flowing, we made our way back to Pier 76 where I was up first to tackle my race.

Men’s Solo Open Hyrox.

I did a bit of a warm up and off to the start corral feeling good but, per usual, nervous. 

My overall plan was to beat my previous Open Solo times which were around 1:36 for both the Toronto and Vegas 2025 events. My run plan was to be in the 5:30 range for the laps. I finished feeling good with a time of 1:26, shaving 10mins off my previous outings. 

I was so into it, I even ran an extra lap in Run 2 which tacked on an unnecessary 2mins…grrr. 

Next up - Nicole. Womens Solo Pro 

She was looking and feeling good heading into the warm up area when she realized “I don’t have my timing chip!”  “Where is it?” I replied. “In the hotel room”. Double grrr…

Well, no time to think too much as Nicole had 20mins before her heat started. “I’ll be back” So, I proceeded to run my ass, which would've liked a bit of recovery, back to the hotel room, and then back to the event, where Nicole was being ushered into the starting zone. 

Whew! She slapped on the chip, marched into the corral and started like the Pro she is. 

It was a bit difficult to compare her Vegas solo Pro time to this one because the timing in NYC for her was a little wonky as it did not record her runs properly. 

But, overall, she crushed her Vegas time of 1:44 with a NYC finish time of 1:25. 

She shaved 19mins off her last Pro time, and of course, she had to beat my time too…using the same weights as Men’s Open! Wow! 

No time to chill too much…we were in New York! 

After a reset back at the hotel room, we walked over to the Empire State building. It was fascinating to learn about its construction, importance, and stylings…it even had a King Kong feature - cool! 

As we arrived at one of the top decks, we had a good giggle as we watched a gal with “tornado hair” struggle with trying to to get a pic while the wind was blowing her hair around. 

We, on the other hand, got some good pics as the sun was going down over the NYC skyline. 

By the time we got back to street level, our legs were a little sleepy and right on cue Iman, a Bike Taxi driver, waved us into his mobile entertainment unit. 

It was decked out in neon pink and was quite the contraption with music blaring out of a single speaker. Perfect for our ride through the Manhattan streets.

We laughed and carried on as Iman pedaled us along, weaving around cars, making circles at stop lights as we listened to “New York, New York” and Jay-Z’s “Concrete Jungle”. 

We were probably into the ride for about 12mins when I caught a glimpse of the fare meter and had to cut the ride short of our hotel destination. 

We paid the guy and joked in disbelief at the cost of that little joy ride…somewhere around $700…kidding of course, but whoa - won’t be doing that again.

Sucker tourist move, but so much fun! 

Sunday proved to be another touristy day with a beautiful spring walk through Central Park.

It was a beautiful spring day and our map presented us with an ideal side quest that we couldnt pass up!

A carousel!

So, we ventured over to the Friesam Memorial Carousel. If it seems like a childish thing for adults to do, it certainly was; we laughed like kids as we circled around on wooden horses.

Our youthful adventure was followed with a trip to a nostalgic Ice Cream bar called Serendipity. 

As we were munching through what seemed to be never ending bowls of ice cream, we commented on how we had forgotten (and had no more time) to get a post card and log our NYC experiences. 

Well, wouldn’t you know, one came with our bill - how very serendipitous! 

What a great wrap up for our last day in NYC. 

After a quick pack up, check out, & springing the car out of Parking Lot Jail, we pointed the car towards Ottawa and were sad to see NYC in the rear view mirror. 

We were cruising along when we saw a monkey sign along the side of the road and just had to check it out. 

Talk about spontaneity. 

Upon further investigation, we learned that it was advertising a monkey-themed mini putt course in the Kalahari Resort complex in the Poconos area of Pennsylvania. 

We had some laughs as we putted through the course. It was a great way to break up the drive and deemed a “must-do” in our future travels. 

It was weekends like this where Nicole & I truly bonded. Fitness, Food & Frolics on an adventure as best friends, and as lovers, were bringing us even closer together as a couple.  Good times! 

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©️2026 Adventure Aweights
written by: Mike McDonald · edited and designed by: Nicole Bowman