As well as covering the distance to Tokyo another of Peter’s goals was to encourage people to use the rowing machine or “erg”.
If there was a single act that made people decide on his challenge it was a comment from the comedian Seann Walsh when he was covering The Boat Races in 2016.
Peter said “He was making the same old joke about rowing being a sport just for “posh people” and I really wanted to squash that misconception”.
“My daughter had only taken up rowing a few years’ earlier after having tried a whole number of sports when she was younger. We actually found that far from being elitist, it was actually the most accessible sport we hade encountered. The welcome she (and we) received was simply wonderful. Coaches and parents alike were so friendly and supportive”.
So when he started TokyRow, Peter wanted to encourage others to join in as well.
“I set out with the task of getting 50 people to get on a rowing machine throughout the three years”.
Although the Olympics were put back a year, the total that have joined Team Tokyrow for at least one row has now exceeded 140!
It has been a mixture of some very good and experienced “real” club rowers (including a couple of Internationals) but many of them have simply been first- timers who have never been on one before, some even have never done any exercise before.
Peter went on to say “this actually has also helped me in return. Every time someone has take part in one of the monthly C2C challenges or one of the Concept 2 challenges for Team TokyRow it has been like getting a little “virtual push”. Some times when I have been at a low, just the fact that someone has taken the time and effort to show support has boosted me tremendously”
With just a few days left there is still time to take part for the final C2CTC challenge – whether you have already done one before or not.
This month’s challenge is shown below.
Remember you don’t have to fast, or young or fit even. Any age, sex or size can take part and at any speed you wish – just taking part helps boost peter with that little “virtual push”
The challenge can be found here
http://www.c2ctc.com/
We have set up a team for this called #TOKYROW and we would love for you to join us.
Simply register your details and as your club select the #TOKYROW option – alternatively you can add your own club (simply contact the C2CTC site admin and they’ll do it for you). You can also simply send your details (name, age, sex, Lightweight or heavyweight) and overall result to Peter on one of the social media links (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or email) and he’ll enter it for you.
Any questions or you want any help in any way with taking part in this please get in touch and we’ll help you out.
Thanks.
On social media please use the hashtag #TEAMTOKYROW to help us find your comments!