// How to enter The Rainhill Trials

The Rainhill Trials are functional fitness, large arena competitions open to all levels of athlete. There are several individual competitions each year, a Teams of 4 competition and a Pairs competition. 

Step 1 // The Ballot

Due to the overwhelming numbers of people wanting to take part, a ballot is opened several months before the live competition. This is where individual athletes and teams can put their name on the ballot list, from which invites to the competition are drawn at random and emailed. Details of ballot opening and closing dates will be shared on this website and on our social media. 

If you receive an invite, you have just 48 hours to accept and pay to secure your place. After the deadline, your place will be automatically offered to another person or team on the ballot list. 

Step 2 // The Seedings - Individual Competitions only

If you have accepted and paid for an athlete place at an Individual competition, you will be asked to complete several Seedings Workouts in your own gym and submit the score by a deadline (usually 6 weeks from when the invites are first issued). 

We ask you to complete this honestly as no video submissions are required. It's always pretty obvious who has entered scores which are either too low, or too high for their actual ability. So do the seedings workouts properly and don't be a d*ck!

There will be a box to tick when you submit your scores if you have scaled any of the movements - don't forget to do this!

If you have any questions about the seedings workouts, you can email the office on events@trainmanchester.co.uk who can help. PLEASE don't leave this until 10 mins before the seeding deadline!

Please remember, that if you fail to submit your seedings scores by the deadline, you will not be able to progress to the live event. There are no refunds or deferrals to another competition. 

Step 3 // The Categories

Once we have all the seeding scores in, we then rank all the athletes and put them into 4 categories : Wood & Rastrick are the more scaled levels and compete on the Saturday. Kennedy & Rocket are the more RX levels and compete on the Sunday.

The category you are put into completely depends on the other athletes who have entered that particular competition. If we have a high number of elite athletes take part, you may find yourself in a lower category than you were expecting. And if we have a higher number of novice athletes, you might find yourself in a higher category. We ALWAYS look at the scores achieved in the seedings for each competition and adjust the workouts at the live competition accordingly. 

So please don't have a panic if you think you are in the wrong category. If the scores you submitted for the seedings are correct, you will be fine. 

We will communicate which category you are in, one week after the seeding deadline so you can get yourself and your spectators organised for the live competition. 

Step 4 // The Live Event

All athletes will be sent a full "athlete briefing pack" via email one week before the live competition. In this will be details of all the workouts, movement standards, your heat time and lane number. Remember, that if you have unsubscribed from our mailing list - you won't receive the email! So please request an athlete information pack from events@trainmanchester.co.uk

All you need to do then is to stay fit and healthy and turn up on the day to have some fun!

Teams & Pairs

To enter a Teams or Pairs competition, you will still need to enter the relevant ballot. However, there are no seedings workouts. Teams or Pairs will decide themselves if they want to enter the Rocket (RX) category or the Rastrick (Scaled) category. You are politely asked to enter the category that is most appropriate for your skill level. Nobody appreciates an RX athlete entering a scaled comp - so don't be that guy!

It is possible to change a team member up to 4 weeks before the date of the live competition. 

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have a question that isn't answered here, please visit our FAQ's page