LAHTH Rower Challenge A Success

Luke Williams
Apr 8, 2018
3 min read

Between 3pm on Friday afternoon and 3pm on Saturday afternoon, 42 individuals rowed 284.173 kilometres for those who are on the Autism Spectrum.

The 24 hour challenge was officially launched by Lend a hand to Hugo’s very own Hugo Barrett, former Australian and Tasmanian cricket star Xavier Doherty, and none other than The Honourable MP Premier of Tasmania, Will Hodgman.

With the machines being active for twenty-four hours at Cult Fitness in Lauderdale, the event was coordinated by Lend a hand to Hugo ambassador Taylah Purton, who is a personal trainer at Cult Fitness and the owner of ‘Discovery Health and Fitness’, and ‘Taylah Purton Massage’. Purton’s efforts were well assisted by Lend a hand to Hugo Founder Luke Williams.

All rowers were encouraged to find sponsors to sponsor every minute they rowed, with all proceeds going to Lend a hand to Hugo’s beneficiary program. Since 2014, Lend a hand to Hugo have strived towards easing mental and financial strains for those affected by the Autism Spectrum Disorder, as well as reinforcing the importance of inclusive environments through sport, school and work places. The rower challenge not only raised vital funds for the beneficiaries of the charity, but worked to spark conversations between rowers and those following the event on social media.

“The power of this is huge. People aren’t ignoring what the challenge is about, and every time a new rower has walked into the gym, a new conversation about Autism begins,” said Lend a hand to Hugo Founder Luke Williams.

Williams said that “We are creating more understanding through this challenge, and the rowers will now share their knowledge to the people within their community.”

For the final thirty minutes, Logan Wickham, Hugo Barrett and Harvey Bevis (all LAHTH beneficiaries) rowed the charities challenge home. As Barrett and Bevis completed the challenge together, the end result showcased that the rower had rowed 284.173 kilometres; equivalent to that of driving from Hobart to Devonport.

Cult Fitness member Nathanael Jeanneret covered the most individual territory, rowing 13.29 Kilometres over two thirty minute stints.

Ned Worledge, Taylah Purton and George Cripps covered the period from 12:30am-4:00am, rowing 34.11 kilometres between them.

With major contributions from My State Foundation and Rick Purton on behalf of Burnie Mazda, the charity expects that the event will have raised over $2000. The charity also wishes to acknowledge and thank Bren Godfrey and the team at Cult Fitness for hosting the event. A final figure will be released later this week once all sponsorship donations have been received.

The charity is still accepting donations to the event via www.lendahandtohugo.org.