work out for water: concept2 holiday challenge raises over $27,000

Vermont Company Promotes the Protection of Water Resources through Exercise.

January 6, 2011
By Meredith Haff

January 5, 2011 – The 11th Annual Holiday Challenge not only urged Concept2 customers to row or ski throughout the holidays, it also asked customers to support organizations that protect water for safe drinking and community use.

Every November, Concept2, the leading manufacturer of rowing machines, hosts a Holiday Challenge, asking its customers worldwide to row or ski either 100K or 200K between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Meters are completed on the Concept2 Indoor Rower or Concept2 SkiErg. This year, over 12,000 people joined the challenge, skiing and rowing to support three organizations: Water For People, International Rivers, or charity: water.

For every person who completed 100K during the challenge, Concept2 donated $.02 for every kilometer (1000 meters) to one of the organizations. For each kilometer beyond 100K, Concept2 donated an additional $.04. In total, $27,253.52 was raised by people who rowed and skied over 1.2 billion meters.

Participants entered their meters into Concept2’s Online Logbook -- a tool that allows participants to track their meters and see the donations accumulate. Throughout the year, the Concept2 Online Logbook allows customers to monitor their progress, rank their best workouts, and interact in a virtual community.

“We’re thankful that Concept2 customers chose to support us through the Holiday Challenge,” says Water For People’s Katie Scolari Borden. “These funds will be used to support our continuous efforts to help bring access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education programs to people in developing countries. These programs are monitored with our Field Level Operations Watch (FLOW) tool, which is a great way for rowers and skiers to see the direct impact of their efforts.”

Concept2 extends its thanks to all of this year’s Holiday Challenge participants for helping to make this group effort such a success.

Concept2 was founded by Dick and Peter Dreissigacker in 1976. Fresh from Olympic training, the two brothers designed and manufactured carbon fiber racing oars, then went on to create the world’s first air-resistance indoor rower. The SkiErg, launched in 2009, builds upon Concept2’s years of experience in designing and manufacturing high-performance training equipment. For more information about Concept2, visit concept2.com.