Pioneer Valley Riverfront Club rowing team sets world record

Aug. 27, 2019 | Danielle Eaton
daniellee@thereminder.com

A group of teens from the Pioneer?Valley Riverfront Club who recently broke a world record for most rows on an indoor machine in 24 hours.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo

SPRINGFIELD– A group of teen rowers from across the Pioneer Valley and parts of Connecticut have broken a world record for most rows on a machine in a day, all while raising money for a good cause.

The rowers were made up of teens from the ages of 16 to 19-years-old. The teens are part of the Pioneer Valley Riverfront Club (PVRC) and are from Springfield, Longmeadow, Feeding Hills, Easthampton, Northampton, and Hadley. Two of the rowers are also from Avon, CT and Glastonbury, CT.

Ben Quick, executive director of the PVRC said the idea to try for the world record first came about when one of the rowers, Cameron Dougal from Springfield, started doing research. Quick said Dougal identified some of the records he thought would be achievable, chose the team, and then picked the date of the event.

The teens had all been rowing for at least two years prior to deciding to take on the challenge. Quick told Reminder Publishing, “They’re some of our best athletes.”

Quick said the world record was created by the company which produces the rowing machines the PVRC uses and the one chosen by the teens was just one of hundreds of records. He told Reminder Publishing, “It’s a beautiful synergy, it gets them excited to do the thing that gets them better at their sport.”

Later, after identifying the record they wanted to beat, the teens decided to add a fundraising component to the challenge they’d set for themselves.

“They wanted to do it for a cause, not for themselves,” Quick said. “The kids really wanted to pay it forward, and they identified Springfield Rescue Mission, they reached out to them. They did it all themselves.”

The previous record the teens had set out to beat was 340,868 meters rowed within 24 hours and was achieved by the Indian River Rowing Club in Florida in 2015. From 7 a.m. Aug. 13 until 7 a.m. on Aug. 14, the PVRC teens took turns rowing 10 minutes at a time and by the end had rowed a total of 351,050 meters, or 217 miles.

In addition to surpassing the world record, they also exceeded their original fundraising goal. Initially, the teens set out to raise $750 for the Springfield Rescue Mission. However, by the end of their rowing they’d raised $1,249.

The teens aren’t done challenging themselves, and world records quite yet though, Quick said.

“We’ve got a whole list, we’re not done, he said. “Cam hasn’t decided yet, he wants to see who we have on the fall team first.”

Quick said he hopes the teens’ ability to work hard and beat the record inspires other kids.

“Rowing is a sport that’s new to everyone,” he said. “Rowing everyone comes and learns it new, and by the end of the year you’re competing. We welcome all athletes.”

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