Free tool for gyms

Plan your gym race sim

The station where you have the fewest units sets your maximum wave size, and the station that stays busy longest per unit sets how far apart the waves start. Enter your athletes and kit and this planner gives the bottleneck, wave size, start interval, total event length, a wave schedule and the judges and timing staff you need.

Athletes

Singles athletes

Doubles teams2 athletes, 1 set of kit

Expected average finish (h:mm:ss)

First wave starts (24 h, hh:mm)

Waves

Plan by

Athletes per waveMax 3 with your kit; doubles team = 1

Your kit

Sled push and pull

SkiErgs

Push sleds

Pull sleds

Burpee broad jump lanes

Rowers

Farmers carry pairs

Sandbags

Wall-ball targets

Run route

Lap length (metres)4 laps per 1 km

Runners side by side

Your sim plan

Waves

Per wave

Every

6 min

Event length

3 h 43 min

50 entries (60 athletes). First wave 09:00, last wave 10:36, last finisher by about 12:33 (finish 12:43 with the buffer). Your kit clears about 35 entries an hour.

Bottleneck: Sled Push and Sled Pull

3 units, so no wave can be bigger than 3. One more of each lets waves of 4: 13 waves every 7 min, and the event is 12 min shorter.

Best single buy: one more pull sled saves 16 min by shortening the gap between waves.

The start interval is set by Sled Pull: each unit is busy about 5:02 per athlete (average 3:46 + slower athletes + reset).

Station capacity and what one more unit saves
Station	Units	Busy / athlete	Per hour	+1 saves
SkiErg	4	6:16	38	—
Sled Push	3	4:15	42	—
Sled Pull	3	5:02	35	16 min
Burpee Broad Jumps	4	6:23	37	—
Row	4	6:16	38	—
Farmers Carry	4	3:08	76	—
Sandbag Lunges	4	6:23	37	—
Wall Balls	6	7:43	46	—

Amber = the station limiting your wave size or interval. "+1 saves" is one extra unit at that station alone.

Wave schedule

Waves on course (solid = to average finish, faded = slowest)

Sample wave schedule (17 waves, every 6 min)
Wave	Start	Who	Finishing
1	09:00	3 singles	10:12–10:57
2	09:06	3 singles	10:18–11:03
3	09:12	3 singles	10:24–11:09
4	09:18	3 singles	10:30–11:15
5	09:24	3 singles	10:36–11:21
6	09:30	3 singles	10:42–11:27
7	09:36	3 singles	10:48–11:33
8	09:42	3 singles	10:54–11:39

Doubles teams are grouped into the later waves so partners race alongside other pairs.

Staff on the day

Judges, marshals and timing staff for 60 athletes
Role	People
Judges: SkiErg	1
Judges: Sled Push	2
Judges: Sled Pull	2
Judges: Burpee Broad Jumps	2
Judges: Row	1
Judges: Farmers Carry	1
Judges: Sandbag Lunges	2
Judges: Wall Balls	3
Run marshals / lap countersAbout 60 people on course at the busiest point	5
Timing20 to 79 athletes: two people on timing.	2
Event lead / briefingsCalls waves, runs the briefing, handles problems	1
Total	22

Judges can double up on lap counting when waves are small. Affordable RFID chip timing: coming soon, so timing staff can judge instead.

Run it on HRP

HRP times your sim with a phone: a judge taps once per split, athletes and spectators follow a live leaderboard, and every athlete gets their full result afterwards. No hardware to hire. £1 per athlete.

Run it on HRP See sims other gyms run

How it works

Entries = singles athletes + doubles teams. A doubles team uses one set of kit at a time, but both partners run.
Station time for an average athlete = average finish × 38% (the share of a race spent on stations) × that station's usual share. Wall balls are the longest station, farmers carry the shortest.
Each athlete holds a unit for that time × 1.25 (so slower athletes don't queue) + 20 s to reset the kit. With a shared sled, one athlete holds it for the push and the pull.
Max wave size = the units at the station with the fewest units, because a wave arrives at each station together.
Start interval = the longest (wave size × hold time ÷ units) over all stations, rounded up to a whole minute.
Event length = (waves − 1) × interval + the slowest finish (average × 1.3) + 10 min buffer.
Judges per station = athletes on it at once ÷ what one judge can watch (1 per wall-ball target, 2 per sled, burpee lane or lunge lane, 4 per erg or farmers carry). Run marshals: 1 per 12 people on course.
Timing staff: under 20 athletes, 1 person; 20 to 79, 2 people; 80 or more, one timer on each station.
Transitions in a gym sim are a few seconds because the stations sit beside the run route. That is correct, so they are not planned as a separate block.

These are planning rules of thumb, not a guarantee. Run a short test wave with your own judges before the day if you can. Athletes can check their own pacing with the finish time predictor.

Last updated 28 October 2026.

Questions

How many athletes can I put in each wave of a gym sim?

No more than the number of units at the station where you have the fewest, usually sleds. A wave reaches each station within about a minute of each other, so everyone in it needs their own SkiErg, sled, rower or wall-ball target, or they stand and queue.

How far apart should the waves start?

Far enough that each wave has cleared every station before the next one gets there. For a wave the size of your bottleneck that is roughly the time a slower athlete spends on your busiest station plus a short reset, which is often 5 to 10 minutes.

How many people do I need on timing?

Under 20 athletes, one person can time the whole event. From 20 to 79 athletes, use two. At 80 or more, put one timer on each station so no split is missed. Affordable RFID chip timing that removes most of this job is coming soon.

Why are the transition times so short in a gym sim?

In a gym the stations sit right beside the run route, so moving from the run into a station and back out takes a few seconds rather than the minutes it can take in a big exhibition hall. Short transition splits are correct for a gym sim.

Should push and pull share a sled?

You can, but then one athlete holds that sled for both the push and the pull, so it becomes the slowest station in the building very quickly. If you can, use separate sleds, or count one shared sled as half a sled for each station when you plan.