On January 15, Grace Rett, a member of the Holy Cross Women’s Crew Team, was killed in a fatal car crash in Vero Beach, Florida. She was the only fatality, but her team members and coach were left severely injured. A GoFundMe was started by the wider rowing community to help pay for their extensive medical bills.

When the winter crew strength and conditioning group heard about this loss in the rowing community, it hit close to home. The Hill Crew Team has been known to be a tight-knit family around campus that has insane amounts of energy. The thought of losing someone in the crew family made the team appreciate what they have. So, the team decided to donate half of the profits from the annual Erg-a-Thon to the Holy Cross team’s GoFundMe and the other half to the Schuylkill River Greenways, a Pottstown based organization that focuses on the environmental and economic health of the river.

The Erg-a-Thon was set up so the donors could determine how many meters the rowers and coaches would pull through on the stationary machines. A span of three hours on Sunday, January 26 gave the Hill Community a time to come watch the rowers “suffer” and the community paid money to see it happen. 

“It is a great opportunity to punish our coaches and peers through the means of charity,” Michael Logar ’20 said.  

Some of the rowers were on the erg for a mere 30 minutes. Michael Soland ’21 was on the erg for an impressive one hour and 43 minutes. Despite the distance and pain, there was nothing but smiles among the team. 

“Being able to contribute back to a community that has meant so much to me these past four years is a great feeling,” Emma Stone ’20 said. “Not only does the team get to be in pain together, but we get to have fun and raise money for good causes.”

In total, the team raised $4,087.27 and rowed a combined total of 320,887 meters. The team is extremely proud of how they were able to help those involved with the crash and with keeping the rivers clean.