Monday, February 5, 2007
Gym fund-raiser brings in $1,000
A group's Super Bowl challenge was to row through the game, start to finish.
By SUSHMA SUBRAMANIAN
The Orange County Register
COSTA MESA – Jill Austin hoped on Sunday for a short, low-scoring Super Bowl game with frequent commercial breaks.
The Costa Mesa resident knew that if either team made a touch-down or field goal, she would have to bring her pace on her rowing machine up to a sprint until a commercial came on.
Those were the rules on Sunday, when a group of 13 rowing professionals and novices got together for their Super Bowl challenge at the Costa Mesa rowing practice gym, the Iron Oarsman. They were required to row through the entire game, from kick-off until the end.
Participants helped raise money, some by their own donations, others by raising per-hour fees, for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, a Southern California nonprofit group that provides grants to athletes with disabilities for training, equipment or travel expenses to major competitions.
"I don't want anyone to score," said Austin, 21. "I've tried this before, and I was only able to get through half the game."
The rowers lined up at adjacent exercise machines, facing a long mirror and three TV screens on Sunday.
They scattered Gatorade bottles, energy bars, chips, cookies and trail mix across the floor. Snack breaks were not allowed.
Most participants weren't avid football fans. Many didn't realize the game had started until they saw the group's organizers begin rowing.
Their pace quickened when the Bears scored their first touchdown a few seconds into the game. Muscles burning, they screamed out, begging for a commercial break.
"Five minutes down," said Evan Wilson, 23, when that break finally came. "Three hours and 55 minutes to go!"
The challenge made Costa Mesa resident Nick Dantoni a fickle Bears fan.
"You come in thinking you want a certain team to win," Dantoni said. "Halfway through, you want no one to score. You just want it to end."
This is the eighth year Dantoni has rowed through the Super Bowl. He first heard about the challenge on a blog and invited his friends to attempt it with him for fun and for a workout. Only two or three people tried each year.
When his friend Val Stepanchuk heard about the challenge, he decided to open it up to a larger group and to row for charity at the Iron Oarsman, where he is an instructor.
He had heard about the Challenged Athletes Fund from previous races.
"We wanted to do something positive and the Challenged Athletes Fund seemed appropriate," Stepanchuk said. "Eventually, you forget that you're rowing, and you're pretty much just watching TV."
In all, the 13 rowers went 410,000 meters and raised nearly $1,000.
Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.
