Ashley Whelan, a dedicated fitness enthusiast, experienced the unthinkable when he suffered a heart attack shortly after completing his first Hyrox race in November. The 37-year-old from Manchester had been preparing for the event for months, training intensely in the lead-up. With a passion for fitness that began in his late teens and experience in Muay Thai events, Whelan was confident about his fitness levels and felt good heading into the race.
“I felt really fit in the lead-up, and my training was going great,” he said. However, despite his positive mindset and physical readiness, he admitted to feeling a bit nervous on the day of the indoor fitness competition.
As Whelan started the race, he noticed something in the back of his mind wasn’t quite right. However, he brushed it off as race-day nerves. “The way I’ve trained my mindset through fighting is to ignore that inner voice telling you to stop,” he explained. Despite pushing through, Whelan’s inner voice seemed to have been trying to warn him.
During the final lap of the race, Whelan glanced at his watch and was shocked to see his heart rate had soared to an alarming 220 bpm, far above his usual maximum of 190 bpm during intense training. “I knew something was wrong,” he recalled. At that moment, he slowed down, and his heart rate gradually began to return to a safer level.
However, the trouble didn’t end after crossing the finish line. Whelan began to feel increasingly uneasy, experiencing pain in his chest. After seeking medical help, he was hooked up to an ECG machine, and doctors confirmed the worst—he was having a heart attack.
“I couldn’t believe it. I felt like I had a ball of fire in my chest,” Whelan said. The situation quickly escalated, and he was rushed to the hospital, where doctors found a blockage in his left coronary artery. To save his life, they used a defibrillator to shock his heart, fearing he might go into cardiac arrest. “It felt like running into a brick wall at 30 mph,” he described the experience.
Whelan was hospitalized for five days and put on blood-thinner medication to help dissolve the clots caused by an arterial tear. Doctors told him he was extremely lucky to have survived the ordeal. Whelan was especially grateful for the swift response of the Hyrox team, who acted quickly to get him the medical attention he needed.
While the exact cause of the clot remains unclear, Whelan suspects that the combination of intense physical exertion and emotional stress played a role. “I was working out six days a week, putting in long hours at my job, and working on my house during the weekends,” he said. “I think I was burning the candle at both ends.”
Now recovering, Whelan is using his experience to urge others to listen to their bodies and avoid pushing through when something feels off. “The mentality of powering through all the time isn’t always the best approach,” he emphasized.
As a result of his experience, Whelan’s gym is now raising money to purchase a defibrillator for their facility to ensure that similar situations can be handled with immediate medical support.
In a statement, Hyrox expressed their gratitude for the quick actions of their team and medical staff: “The safety of our athletes is always our priority, and we are very thankful for the fast response of our team and the medical team on site. We are happy to hear that the athlete has fully recovered, and we wish him and his family all the best for the future.”
Feeling lucky to be alive, Whelan is determined to continue his fitness journey, but with a renewed focus on listening to his body and maintaining a better balance in his life.
