1 Million Metre Row for Charity
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
July 23rd. 100% of donations will go to the Adelaide Woman’s and Children’s Hospital Burns Unit to support young children who have become unfortunate victims.
David Thomson, an Aviation Firefighter will row 1,000,000 metres over a space of 10 days for charity starting on June 23rd 2007. Read a few words from David...
Update AFTER the event
Hello Everyone,
Well I did it...1,000,000 metres in 10 days and if there is anyone out there who is thinking about doing the same thing I would advise you very, very strongly to think about doing something else!!!
It was the most painful thing I have ever done by far, I thought the training I had done over the past 12 months was going to get me by without any problems but I couldn't have been more wrong. The pain started from half way through day 1 and didnt stop until a week after I had finished. Sore knees, sore arms, aching back and ofcourse the worst part of all, sore and blistered bum!
We fell short on the amount we were trying to raise unfortunately but we still managed to scrape together $13,000. On behalf of the Australian Professional Firefighters Charity Foundation I would like to thank Concept 2 for their sponsorship for the event and a big thanks to Birtefor her continued support from the start.
Below are all the distances for the individual days...
Day 1 - 121,527m
Day 2 - 111,593m
Day 3 - 113,601m
Day 4 - 114,222m
Day 5 - 102,339m
Day 6 - 91,293m
Day 7 - 100,926m
Day 8 - 122,900m
Day 9 - 94,268m
Day 10 - 27,331m
Update 19/7/07
Hello Everyone,
The big day has finally arrived and I start rowing this Monday. I have worked out my itinerary for the 10 days and am planning on aiming to do 120km for the first 5 days to make sure I'm in front and it takes the pressure off towards the end. To achieve this I will be starting in the gym at Next Generation every morning at 5.30am and have worked out that I won't be heading off home until about 8.00pm that night! So there are a few long days ahead of me.
Once again thank you to everyone for their e-mails and text messages expressing their support and remember that there is still time to make a donation. The Australian Professional Firefighters Charity Foundation has teamed up with the Adelaide Women's and Children's Hospital Foundation in the past couple of months and are now aiming to raise $50,000 instead of the initial $20.000. If anyone would like to contribute. my details are below.
After the event, there will be a post on the webpage to let you all know how I went.
Update 18/4/07
Hello Everyone,
I was wanting to update you all on the progress towards to the 'big day'.
I have just started back on the C2 after having a break for a couple of weeks with the conclusion of the 2007 World Police & Fire Games, that were held here in Adelaide and were a lot of fun. I went to a lot of different events as a spectator and I can safely say that the atmosphere at the Indoor Rowing by far exceeded that of any other sport or venue.
I competed in the 2000 metre individual event, 30-34 age group and was lucky enough to sneak in for a bronze medal in a time of 6:44.2. The winner of taht race was a bloke who you may have read the name of on the Concept2 website... Peter Skene, who pulled a 6:16!!
I also entered the pairs event with a fellow Firefighter from the Aviation Rescue Firefighting Service where I work, his name is Brett Hamilton. The pairs event was a race held over the distance of 500 metres and Brett and I got a silver medal with a time of 1:26.3, so it was a pretty good week for me and I walked away very happy.
It was my first day back on the rower today to start doing some long distances. I'm going to start with a week of hour long rows and build it up from there. By the time the event comes along on July 23rd I will be extra ready to tackle it head on.
So far we have raised jsut under $5000 on our way to the figure we are trying to achieve which is $20,000. 100% of the money which we are raising is going to the Burns Unit at the Adelaide Woman's and Children's Hospital.
Anyone who donates to our cause after reading it from the Concept2 Newsletter will be getting a big public thankyou for everyone to see.
A big THANK YOU to NEIL KELLIHER who is the Director of INTAFITNESS in Melbourne. Neil read about the "ONE MILLION METRE ROW" and sent across 2 pairs of rowing gloves for my use during the event... Thanks Neil.
And as always a huge thank you to Birte at Concept2 for allowing me to write to everyone and keep you informed as to how everything is unfolding.
Best of luck to you all... and remember, if you would like to donate to a great cause all the details are below.
Thanks David.
“ONE MILLION METRE ROW”
c/o David Thomson
Aviation Rescue Firefighting Service
GPO Box 2270
Adelaide SA 5001
Mob: 0418 839 840
Email: david_thomson74@yahoo.com.au
Hello Everyone,
My name is David Thomson, I am an Aviation Firefighter at Adelaide Airport and have been since March 2005. Since this time I have also been a member of the Australian Professional Firefighters Charity Foundation which, among other things, raises money for burns victims. Being involved in the South Australian branch of the Foundation the majority of the money we raise goes to the Adelaide Woman’s and Children’s Hospital Burns Unit to support young children who have become unfortunate victims.
In March this year I will be competing in the Indoor Rowing at the World Police and Firefighter Games which are being held here in Adelaide. Last year while training for my events I came up with an idea to put all of my hard work to some use and approached the Foundation with an idea to hold an event to raise money for the Charity. What I came up with was the…
“ONE MILLION METRE ROW”
Next Generation Fitness Club
Memorial Drive, North Adelaide
July 23rd – August 1st
This particular event involves myself on a Concept2 Indoor Rowing machine rowing one million metres within ten days!!! To break this down a bit, it means I will need to row a minimum of one hundred kilometres a day for each of the ten days. Or make that about ten hours a day where I will be sitting on a Concept2!
I have no doubt that there will be some people out there reading this, shaking their head with disbelief, thinking that I’m either mad for attempting such a thing, or that I have no chance of doing so successfully. That’s fine. I appreciate that what I am attempting is an enormous ask but if it was easy then no-one would want to support such an event.
Which is, hopefully, where some of my fellow Concept2 users come in. What we are asking is for people or companies to get behind our event to help us raise money for what we believe to be a wonderful cause.
If there is anyone out there who would like to sponsor this event, you and/or your company would receive exposure through various media such as television, radio and print media. You could also have your company logo and name on our Major Sponsors board and if you wish to send a company shirt I would also wear that and advertise your business.
So if you would like to contact me to get some further information toward supporting our event, or you would just like to show your support, you can contact me at…
“ONE MILLION METRE ROW”
c/o David Thomson
Aviation Rescue Firefighting Service
GPO Box 2270
Adelaide SA 5001
Mob: 0418 839 840
Email: david_thomson74@yahoo.com.au
Good luck with your rowing and I hope to hear from you soon.
David.