One Mile, One Community, No Shortcuts: Enter the World’s Toughest Mile
If you’re seeking your next fitness challenge and aren’t afraid of a bit of discomfort, the World’s Toughest Mile has officially entered the chat.
Launching today, the new national event series announced its first-ever race date: February 21, 2026, in Austin, Texas. The concept is simple, gritty, and unapologetically brutal, created by three well-known figures in the fitness and wellness industry: Eric Hinman, Guido Trinidad, and Wyatt Ewing.
- Together, they aim to develop something that goes beyond a one-off sufferfest and instead fosters real connection through shared effort.
At the heart of the event is Hinman’s original “Toughest Mile” workout. The layout is simple: four laps on a track.
- Three of those laps are pure grunt work: burpee broad jumps, walking lunges, and bear crawls. Only the final lap is a run. No extras. No shortcuts. Just genuine movement and a test of mental toughness.
Hinman, a hybrid athlete and longtime supporter of community-focused fitness, has been hosting various versions of the workout for years.
- “Everyone walks away having accomplished something they were not sure they could do,” he says. “I love combining bonding over discomfort with the endorphin rush that follows.”
The challenge isn’t about elite performance.
Hinman initially attempted a 400-meter handstand walk, which took nearly 30 minutes. He quickly realized that accessibility matters more than spectacle. The goal is simply to show up, scale as needed, and do hard things together as a community.
That ethos carries through the entire “World’s Toughest Mile” experience.
- The 2026 WTM Tour will visit five cities, combining the signature mile with recovery zones, cold plunges, saunas, workshops, music, and community-focused wellness sessions.
Ewing, Ice Barrel’s founder, emphasizes recovery and resilience, while Trinidad, best known for Peak360 CrossFit and Wodapalooza, brings a proven blueprint for large-scale fitness events.
- “The toughest mile is not just about the work on the track,” Trinidad says. “It’s about people realizing what they can do when they show up for each other.”
Rough dates and locations have already been announced for all five miles and are as follows:
- February 21, 2026 – Austin, TX.
- March 2026 – Miami, FL.
- April 2026 – San Diego, CA.
- May 2026 – Nashville, TN.
- June 2026 – Denver, CO.
Registration is now open for the first event.
