November 15, 2021

100,000 Meter Street Challenge

The row challenge is back this year, but we are going to make it extra special by honoring someone we loved and lost. From now on, we will rename this event the 100,000 Meter Street Challenge.

Most of you know we lost beloved member, Terry Street, recently. But what you may not know is that this man LOVED to row. He was famous for coming in daily between Thanksgiving and Christmas to accumulate meters, usually rowing 10K at a time. He went far above the 100,000 challenge each year, as it was his time to socialize, connect AND work on his fitness.

This year we honor him by running the challenge in his name AND by adding a charitable element. His daughter is in college and the family has asked for donations to her college funding (in lieu of gifts or sending flowers). To do this, we are asking for a $25 donation to participate in this year’s challenge. We are hoping to reach over $1,500 in donations!

Here’s how it works: You have the day AFTER Thanksgiving until December 31st to accumulate 100,000M on the Erg (rower) or equivalent meters running or on the bike. We will kick off the event with a Row-a-thon the Sunday morning after Thanksgiving. Not only will we all need to spend the time burning some extra calories from the holiday, it will allow us to do what Terry loved most. Come together, be a community and have some fun. We will work in teams of two that day, sharing rowers (one rows, other rests) and we’ll have time slots assigned so rowers are available. More to come on this!

What do I need to do to sign up? Not much! Just slap your name on the front Whiteboard under 100,000 Meter Street Challenge and you are in! We will bill your account for the $25 donation and aggregate funds to give as one donation.

In terms of tracking the meters, well, you do that on your own. It is a healthy amount of meters per day (average of 2,700 per day). You can chip in any increments you’d like. Any rowing we do in WODs or warm ups counts to your total. Your only requirement is to update your total meters on the whiteboard as you make progress. If there is rowing in a class and you have come to get some meters in… sorry but the class takes precedence. Of course if there’s a rower open, you are welcome to hop on!

Why are doing this? Because strength doesn’t come from what you can do. Strength comes from overcoming the things you thought you couldn’t. And Terry lived this mantra every day. And he’d be the first to tell you with a big ‘ol grin on his face… a little extra work over the holiday does a body good!