Local Women Finish Exercise Routine on World Stage
By Craig Reed
After almost 2 hours of running, jumping, pulling and lifting, Shawn Henry and Dee Henry finished the “crazy competition.”
That’s how the sisters-in-law described the physical and mental challenge of the HYROX competition.
In mid-June, the 2 Douglas Electric Cooperative members competed at the HYROX World Championships in Stockholm, finishing the set exercise routine in 1 hour, 47 minutes and 29 seconds.
The team’s start time was 7:30 p.m. “It was our joke that we just wanted to finish before the janitors came in,” Dee says. “I was pleased with our effort. I was extremely pleased with Shawn, because she’ll probably tell you she didn’t do well, but she did awesome. I’m pleased with the fact we accomplished something out of our comfort zone.”
“I was just pleased we finished, and we weren’t the last team,” Shawn says. Dee explains the pair’s motto was “Golden grit, not perfect, not young, just willing and walking in faith that God meets us in the doing.”
“We had to pray sometimes to make it through it,” she says. Dee and Shawn hadn’t heard of the HYROX program until early 2025 when a friend, Brenna DesJardin, posted online about a HYROX event in Las Vegas.
The unique challenge consists of 8 stations—Ski Erg (a stationary machine that simulates the motion of cross-country skiing), sled push, sled pull, burpee broad jumps, rowing, farmer’s carry, sandbag lunges and wall balls—with a 1-kilometer run between each.
The indoor routine was created in 2017 in Germany and became popular in Europe before gradually attracting participants in the United States.
According to an online statement, “The idea was to create a hybrid fitness race that blends endurance and functional strength, appealing to both gym-goers and competitive athletes. The name ‘HYROX’ symbolizes a combination of ‘hybrid’ and ‘rockstar,’ reflecting the mix of endurance and standout performance.”
“I looked it up,” Dee says. “I thought, ‘That’s the craziest thing. Who would do that?’”
But exercise doesn’t scare Dee. Years ago, she had weight loss surgery before consistently walking to get exercise. Eventually, she lost 160 pounds. At age 40, she completed a short triathlon event. She and Shawn had also walked in half-marathons.
Shawn says it was no surprise when Dee proposed the idea of competing in the Las Vegas HYROX.
“I said, ‘What are you up to now?’” Shawn says. “It evolved from there.”
- Each says she wouldn’t have followed through with the event if not for the other also participating.
- Using online exercise routines geared toward the HYROX program, the 2 worked out at The Body Shop fitness center in Sutherlin and at the Oakland High School track.
In February, they joined 17,000 other participants at the Las Vegas event. The average of their ages—Shawn at 71 and Dee at 60—placed them in the women’s 60 to 65 age group.
Early in the challenge, Dee and Shawn turned the wrong way and lost several seconds before making a correction. They finished in 1 hour, 47 minutes and 44 seconds.
“There are judges, so you have to do every exercise right, or you are penalized some time,” Dee says, explaining knees must touch the floor on lunges, squats must be low, and the weighted wall balls must be tossed to a marked height.
The women didn’t learn until 3 days later by email that they had finished first in their age group, qualifying them for the world event in Sweden in June.
They continued to train with the goal of making that trip. Their training included walking in the 20-mile MammothMarch at Silver Falls State Park in March. They finished in about 6 hours, improving on their 8-hour time at the same event 2 years earlier.
“That was a credit to our training,” Dee says.
At the 3-day HYROX World Championships in Sweden, Shawn and Dee were 2 of the 7,000 people who took turns on the indoor course. Their time placed them sixth out of 11 teams in the women’s 65 to 69 age division.
The women treated themselves to an authentic Swedish massage the following day to help their recovery. Shawn and Dee say they like the training and will continue to do walking events, but they have no plans to participate in another HYROX event. “It’s a crazy thing to do, but I’m glad we did it,” Shawn says.