Eight miles, three gyms and one demanding dash through the heart of New York City.
More than 200 athletes turned out on a rainy Sunday to run from the Meatpacking District through Midtown Manhattan before crossing the bridge into Williamsburg.
This was far more challenging than an ordinary 5K.
Known as Urban Iron, the event sent competitors racing between several of New York’s best-known gyms and fitness studios, with a workout waiting at every stop.
On September 12, the field gathered at Rivian in the Meatpacking District, one of the event’s sponsors. From there, athletes made their way to The Training Lab on West 39th Street, where they tackled the SkiErg, performed overhead presses and hauled a water jug up nine flights of stairs.
The next leg took them across the bridge to Williamsburg and The Yard Gym for another round of physically demanding challenges.
The final gym stop was True North Training at Domino Park, where competitors combined rowing with wall balls and sit-ups.
Once they reached the finish line, racers headed to Rivian Williamsburg for a post-race celebration featuring live DJs, ice baths and podium ceremonies.
For some competitors, the hardest element was not the box jumps or weighted walking lunges they completed after sprinting along Broadway. It was figuring out how to get from one gym to the next without a single mandatory route.
“Unless you’re local to the city, the challenge is trying to navigate to get to the stops you need to, which makes it super dynamic and exciting,” Dylan Crutchfield, who traveled six hours from Pittsburgh to compete in his fifth Urban Iron, told The Post.
Organizers provide athletes with a recommended course in advance, but each participant ultimately decides which streets to use between locations.
“Race participants are required to really think about and understand and plan how they are going to complete the race ahead of time,” Urban Iron co-founder Jake Schonberger told The Post. “Some people show up and wing it. Others plan with their friends how they’re going to run from gym to gym.”
Meet the racers
The fitness competition and urban adventure attract a wide mix of athletes, including runners, weightlifters and functional-fitness enthusiasts searching for a fresh kind of challenge.
“The various aspects of the race make it really attractive to people that are looking for something new, a way to meet new people and an opportunity to challenge themselves to do something really difficult while competing but also having a great time,” said Urban Iron co-founder Louisa Li.
Before entering her first Urban Iron last fall, Jill Czarnik, a 38-year-old runner, was most nervous about the functional-fitness stations. She understood that strength training could help support her running and hoped the event would motivate her to incorporate more weightlifting into her routine.
The split format also gave her a new perspective on health and racing.
“I think it’s promoted more of a balanced approach to fitness,” Czarnik explained. “I don’t have this singular focus on running and have this benchmark of [a time in mind].”
“I don’t even know my finish time… but it’s nice to not have the pressure on the numbers,” she added.
Even Crutchfield, a self-proclaimed “gym bro” who was mostly into powerlifting before Urban Iron, says the events have exposed him to “a new world within the fitness community.”
But he added that training for Urban Iron feels like its own beast, different from preparing for a marathon or Hyrox.
Three-time competitor Edward Gomez, 40, agrees, saying the mind and body have to be prepared for a race of this kind.
“This is definitely not something you could just wake up tomorrow and say, I’m going to run eight miles and do three circuit workouts,” he said.
In the lead up to race day, he aimed to run 25 to 30 miles a week while incorporating three to four gym visits to “keep the gears in motion.”
Built with local love
The brainchild of Schonberger, a triathlete, and Li, a runner and yoga instructor, Urban Iron was initially created as a personal challenge to combine strength and running while training for their respective races.
The first race was held in June 2025, with four more completed in New York, and every event selling out and quickly growing waitlists.
But it’s not just the format that makes this race different from others and attracts so many people: Li and Schonberger want to raise awareness for local gyms and fitness communities in the cities they race in.
“Before we drop into a city, we meet with the local fitness leaders, join in on run clubs, meet gym owners and talk to the locals,” Li said. “We also host a dinner to bring the local communities together as a way to really get to know them.”
“We really want to establish trust and genuine relationships with all our partners and participants,” Schonberger added.
The partner gyms get their name, logos and professional photography of their space presented to people all across social media, while race participants get to experience first-hand what the partner gyms have to offer.
While Crutchfield initially signed up for the fitness challenge, the 24-year-old kept coming back for the community he found. Since the race in Chicago this past June, he hangs out with some of the gym owners and several other athletes.
“One of the coolest things about Urban Iron is that [they’re] working to bring people together who are aligned in their health, wellness and fitness lifestyles,” he said. “And it’s super inviting for people looking to get into that space.”
The event has since expanded to Austin and Chicago, with plans for a race in Los Angeles on Oct. 4 and future ones in Miami.
In the meantime, the co-founders are hoping to address the growing demand for the race to come to cities across the globe.
They’re also constantly testing to see how big they can make each race, upping the number of participants — something competitors are doing, too.
“I’ve been trying to get more people and this time I got 13 folks to enter the race,” Gomez, who lives in Astoria, said. “I want this race to be in the 1000s. I want it to be something like Hyrox… because for me, it’s just that much fun and a great experience.”
Crutchfield echoed the sentiment, saying he “will tell everyone I know” about Urban Iron.
And for Czarnik, the smaller race is something she looks forward to, despite running all the World Major Marathons.
“The event itself creates this sense of community because when you finish,” she said. “You’ve probably seen everyone you started with… and you make great friends along the way much easier.
