SCCCF Survive, Thrive & Be Fit Indoor Row Group Completes Fifth Annual Lake Michigan Crossing in Record Time!
No... we didn’t actually “row across Lake Michigan!”
Fifteen survivor-athlete/rowers (Back Row L-R standing: Dennis Sundell, Grett Goebel, Rae-Ellen Weber, Bob Hartig, Maryellen Kloiber, Althea Smith, Jennifer King, Dan Kunda, Kathy Burch, Lisa Glander, Leah Heusterberg, John Seaman; Front Row L-R kneeling: Chuck Cioper, Kirstin Opgenorth, Tim Renzelmann, Cindy Becker, Linda Ansay) took turns rowing on Concept2 ergometers (indoor rowing machines) at the Sheboygan YMCA’s Lakeview Center in this relay-style event on Saturday, March 14th!
With each crossing since our first (2016), IRG members have improved their Lake Michigan Crossing time, and this year was no different. This year’s time of 8:34:21.2 bettered the 2019 time of 8:48:52.7! (NOTE: Because we use three ergometers for the crossing it only takes about three hours from start to finish to complete the 100k/100,000m distance.)
Kudos also to IRG member Bob Hartig who “rode” 50K on a YMCA exercise bike while we “rowed.”
If that wasn’t enough... five of our IRG members (Jennifer King, John Seaman, Linda Ansay, Rae-Ellen Weber and Tim Renzelmann) completed a more “casual” return-trip crossing on Sunday morning on the five SCCCF ST&BF Concept2 ergometers at MOA/SCBS!
Interestingly, even though this was a casual effort (and we were all a bit fatigued from Saturday’s more intense crossing), I added up our rowing times the next day only to find that our cumulative time (9:16:32.7) was better than our times for the first three crossings!
Although the current COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted our activities we are hoping that circumstances will allow us to get back to rowing before the end of the 2019/20 season, which ends on April 30th. Watch for updates!