NLTRD Media Madness

Wow. We’re all over the place lately! Thanks to the local Austin news organizations, we promoted the heck out of National Learn to Row Day and got over 160 rowers to try out this amazing sport for the first time.  Here’s a collection of all the fun video stuff we’ve been up to lately.

First, we showed We Are Austin‘s Jason that rowing is a great summer activity and a full body exercise. This was his second time in a rowing shell with us, so he picked it up again pretty quickly. Here’s video of ARC Director Sara-Mai Conway talking about the total-body benefit of rowing.

Later in the week, YNN Austin Active Now’s Julia Morales out on the water. Here’s the video of her testing things out in the double.

We Are Austin joined us again the following week for a full promo for National Learn to Row Day, and our first appearance on LIVE TV! Whew. Hunter Ellis took to rowing quickly, and we had fun testing things out in the double.

You know what would be awesome? If news organizations would let you embed video.

2011 National Learn to Row Day Success!

Austin Rowing Club celebrated the 10th annual National Learn to Row Day by opening its doors for FREE one-hour rowing sessions from 10am-4pm on Saturday, June 4th. Over 160 newcomers got out in the water in eight person rowing shells, alongside ARC member volunteers.

Those who enjoyed their brief introduction to the sport have the option of continuing with a month-long Intro to Rowing Class, or for high school students – ARC’s Junior Summer Camps.

Austin Rowing Club is a non-profit organization committed to providing low-cost and no-cost rowing programs to Austin residents. For photos from the event, check out the ARC Flickr page.

Learn to Row for Free June 4th

written by Brock Sampson

As you can imagine, I am often asked how to get into rowing. Here at Austin Rowing Club, there are many ways, such as Intro to Rowing Classes and Private Lessons. But hey, shouldn’t there be a way to jump into rowing without paying a dime! Well, the time has come! On June 4th, you can row for FREE!

USRowing, the non-profit membership organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the national governing body for the sport of rowing in the U.S., and Concept2, the oar and ergometer manufacturer based in Morrisville, Vt., have asked rowing clubs and health clubs across the country to open their doors and give people a taste of rowing on the water and on the ergometer. More than 100 clubs throughout the United States are expected to participate.

• Date: June 4th, 2010
• Time: 10am – 4PM
• Location: Austin Rowing Club

Click here for more information from Austin Rowing Club’s Learn to Row for Free Day. Please be advised that, due to the high number of participants, you must CLICK HERE TO RSVP!!. (on the RSVP page, please look for the National Learn To Row classes while scrolling to the bottom of page.)

We Learned to Row for Free March 26th

Hello Everyone! Here at the Austin Rowing Club we like to reach out to the community in very special ways. We like to row, so what better way to show our appreciation to Austin than teaching the city how to. Take a look at these happy faces below. I bet you it’s because they’re getting to row with Austin’s best, for the first time, for FREE! Can’t beat that! Let us know how we can serve you better by adding a comment below.
“This morning at Austin Rowing Club — free Learn-to-Row event. Lots of new rowers trying out the sport. They all loved it, of course.” ~Jack Graham

Holiday Erg Challenge Recap

It’s a bit late but the Holiday Erg Challenge officially ended over a week ago on Christmas Eve.  We had outstanding participation this year, rivaling last year’s by far, and the addition of a fundraiser added some extra motivation.

Notable achievements (I apologize if your name is incomplete, some of the hadwriting on the chart was hard to read)

200k:

• Virginia Hoffman
• Topher
• John Mitrowski
• Tony Hamilton
• Lee Austin
• Vince Perez
• Kelli Garrett
• Elisabeth Garnder
• Nikki Ulug
• Casey B.
• Jennifer de Haas
• Garrett Heiffrin
• Sara-Mai Conway

100k+ to <200k

• Patrick Kelly (195k – soooo close)
• Don Kerth (170k)
• Stephanie (153k)
• Ron Yaw (150k)
• Charles Barksdale (150k)
• ***Jack Graham*** (140k)
• Paul Scripko (140k)
• Marie-Claire (125k)
• Andrew Magill (122k)
• Heather Jo Boiseau (107k)
• Amy Hollister (103k)

100k

• Lauren A.
• Lauren Britt
• Liz Record
• Peter Stroughes
• Katie Gilbert
• Lee Parks
• Brocharus (Brock, is that you?)
• DCB
• Alex Janss
• Brett K
• Erik Cornet
• Alicia H.
• Camille Jobe

And congratulations to everyone else who worked on their own goals!

FIT Fundraiser update

Hey Y’all,  Sorry about the lack of updates over the weekend but I’ve been frantically erging trying to meet my personal goal.  And I’m done!  200k as of Sunday.  Whew!  Here’s a pic from the “Erg & a Movie” this past Saturday:

Anyway, speaking of erging, here is the update on the FIT Fundraiser from ARC Women’s Competitive Crew captain Jessica Hymowitz:

Using the word exciting and erging in the same sentence may seem ridiculous but that’s exactly what’s happening down at Austin Rowing Club these days – erging with excitement. What’s that?  Well, its a lot of things including erging with a purpose.  If you are a regular reader of this blog or have been down at the boathouse recently you know that the wheels are spinning to support Food in Tummies which provides backpacks of food on the weekend for kids who would otherwise go hungry.  You can track the progress of the program by checking out the chart on the left side of the bulletin board.  It shows a happy erg climbing its way to more and more backpacks!

There may not be time to put in another 100km before Christmas but you can still participate by pledging another rower who has been putting some erg calluses on their hands over the last few weeks.  There is a list of participants above the chart and pledge cards.  Simply fill one out and place it in the office drop box.  Once “your rower” has completed the challenge they will contact you to let you know how far they made it – or you can look online at http://sites.google.com/site/arcfitprogram/home/sponsors/kilometers-erged to see how everyone is doing.

I’ll provide final numbers once we are done but so far we’ve received over $7000 in pledges which is a LOT of backpacks!

Update on the Holiday Erg Challenge Food-In-Tummies fundraiser

Jessica Hymowitz, Women’s Competitive Crew captain and organizer of this exciting fundraiser we’re doing in conjunction with the Holiday Erg Challenge, brings us the latest update:

It’s two weeks in and team ARC is doing a phenomenal job of racking up the kilometers for Food-In-Tummies.  So far they have gone almost 2,200km or, for those of you not on the metric system, 1367 miles.  Roughly the distance from Pittsburgh to Austin!  Special kudos to Virginia Hoffman who has completed 200km – for you math whizzes that works out to over 14km a day.

However this is not just about who can do the most kilometers but raising money for kids who would otherwise not eat on the weekend.  We’ve had almost $6,200 in pledges to date which is 1,240 backpacks.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could contribute even more?

If you’ve been down at the boathouse in the last day or two, you’ll have seen a new chart next to the holiday challenge.  It shows how many backpacks we would cover if erging stopped as of today.  Keep watch to see the club continues on their quest to feed hungry kids!

Its not to late to join thefundraiser or to make a pledge.  There are cards above the chart and you can always find out more online at ARC FIT Program.  Or, you can always email Jessica Hymowitz at jhymowitz@gmail.com for more information.

And check out the pictures below to see how over 800 backpacks get put together every week!

Holiday Erg Challenge Update

We’re at week two of the Holiday Erg Challenge and there’s certainlly been a ton of erging going on!  Our sign-up chart is almost full! BTW, if you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check out the awesome video that Virginia Hoffman made about the erg challenge.  It’s really impressive and the folks at Concept 2 are very excited about it.

Wow, look how far along some people already are. This chart goes to 200k, halfway is 100k.

Erg-A-Thon Fundraiser

The competitive teams have decided to make the Holiday Erg Challenge a fundraiser as well!  The details are below.  The competitive teams want to stress that you don’t have to join the fund raiser to participate in the Holiday Erg Challenge, it’s still an open to everyone event, this is just something to add a little extra motivation.  But if you’re intrigued by the fundraiser, you’re more than welcome to erg for money as well!

From Jessica Hymowitz, Competitive Women’s Crew Captain:

It’s that time of year again at ARC where the ergs start whirring non-stop as people try and complete 100-200km in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This year we have an opportunity to make those kilometers mean more than just bragging rights.  The men’s and women’s competitive teams will be asking their friends and families to make a donation to a local Austin charity based on the distance completed.  For example a pledge of $.25/km would mean a $25 donation if a rower completed a 100km.

The charity chosen is Food In Tummies (FIT – http://www.jlaustin .org/?nd= fit) whose goal is to make sure kids are being fed on the weekends.  Though the program only started at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year, 827 backpacks of food are being distributed every week at Baty Elementary School where 97% of the population is part of the National School Lunch Program (reduced cost or free lunches).

Anyone is welcome to participate in this effort. A website has been setup where you can sign up to participate as a rower, make a pledge, track your progress and find out more information about FIT.  The site is http://sites. google.com/ site/arcfitprogr am/.

Contributions should be made directly to FIT.  When it is time to pay the pledge, donors can pay online with a credit card directly to The Junior League of Austin/FIT Program at www.jlaustin. org/?nd=donate_ summary.  Donors choose the FIT (Food In Tummies) category and the FIT Row-A-Thon subcategory. Or, donors can pay by check made out to The Junior League of Austin/FIT Program and put Row-A-Thon in the memo.  Checks should be sent to The Junior League of Austin, FIT Program, Row-A-Thon, 5416 Parkcrest, Ste 100, Austin, TX 78731.

If you are interested in participating in the program please contact me directly at jhymowitz@gmail. com and I will send you additional information.

Thanks!

Jessica

Holiday Erg Challenge!

Already posted this as part of a weekly round up but it deserves a post of its own.  The 2009 Holiday Erg Challenge starts this Thanksgiving Day!  For details see the helpful flyer below and read on for some FAQs.