Participation Loyalty in Hyrox: The Primacy of Sport Experience and the Effects of Marketing Support

Abstract

High-intensity functional fitness competitions such as HYROX have emerged as hybrid sport ecosystems that integrate principles of physical education, competitive sport structures, and market-oriented event delivery. Despite growing participation, empirical evidence explaining participation loyalty in such demanding sport environments remains fragmented, with prior studies often privileging marketing or satisfaction-based explanations over experiential and pedagogical foundations. Addressing this gap, this study examined the relative influence of HYROX sport experience and management factors, and marketing support variables on participation loyalty. Using a quantitative, descriptive–correlational design, data were collected from 320 first-time and repeat HYROX participants in Cebu City, Philippines. Descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-test, and multiple regression analysis were employed to test predictive and comparative relationships. Results revealed that participation loyalty was predominantly explained by sport experience and management variables, with community and belongingness emerging as the strongest predictors, followed by training readiness, event challenge satisfaction, operational and safety quality, and coaching/program support. In contrast, marketing variables played a secondary role, with only product experience quality and place accessibility exerting significant but comparatively weaker effects. At the same time, price fairness and promotional effectiveness were not statistically significant. Additionally, repeat participants demonstrated significantly higher loyalty than first-time participants, underscoring the role of experiential learning and progressive mastery in sustaining engagement. Overall, the findings confirm that participation loyalty in HYROX is primarily anchored in physical education outcomes, social integration, and sport management quality, with marketing serving a complementary, enabling function. This study provides novel empirical evidence by framing HYROX loyalty as an experience-driven phenomenon. It offers practical implications for sport managers seeking to prioritize pedagogical integrity and community building over promotional intensity.