Our Eighth Annual Online Holiday Challenge ran from U.S. Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 22) to midnight on Christmas Eve (Monday, December 24). It was our biggest year ever!

Here are final statistcs from the challenge:

Total participants:                         5,597
200K finishers:                             3,088
100K finishers:                             2,211
kids completing 50K:                       241
Adaptive rowers completing 50K:       57

Women:                             1,555 (28%)
Men:                                  4,042 (72%)

Visit the honor boards to see everyone who completed the 2007 Holiday Challenge!

• View the Holiday Challenge Honor Board
• View the Kids Honor Board
• View the Adaptive Honor Board

The Details

• Row 100,000 meters or 200,000 meters between November 22 and midnight December 24
• You do not need to be on a team to participate! Log your individual meters.
• Record indoor rower meters only (no on-water meters, please!)
• Kid's Holiday Challenge allows kids (aged 16 and under) to participate at 50,000 meters
• Adaptive rowers can choose to participate at the 50K, 100K, or 200K levels
• Deadline for entering meters: January 4th, 2008

How to Participate

1. You must have an Online Logbook at concept2.com (it's FREE!) and all of your meters must be entered into your Online Logbook. If you don't already have one, visit the Online Logbook home page, click Register under New User and follow the directions. Kids Challenge participants need to set up an individual logbook (using a parent's email address is fine).
2. Under the Profile tab, enter your current mailing address
3. After you row, record your meters in your Online Logbook. The Online Logbook automatically calculates your meters during the Challenges.
4. Visit the Challenges tab in your Online Logbook. When you've reached your goal, the Challenges tab of the Online Logbook automatically recognizes your achievement and displays instructions for claiming your rewards.

Download our Holiday Challenge Flyer and display it near your indoor rower for added motivation!

Don't have a Concept2 Indoor Rower? That's OK! Visit our Indoor Rower Finder page to find a location near you with one of our machines.

Incentives & Rewards

The incentives and rewards available depend on which goal you achieve. Here's how it works.

200K, 50K Kids, and Adaptive

Participants who row 200,000 meters, kids who row 50,000 meters, and adaptive rowers who row at least 50,000 meters are entitled to the following incentives and rewards:

• A free downloadable certificate of achievement
• A free downloadable heat transfer for making your own Holiday Challenge-wear
• A free Holiday Challenge pin
• Pins are sent automatically to the address on file in your Personal Logbook Profile. Please ensure you have entered a valid address in order to receive your pin.
• Access to the Cafepress (cafepress.com) Holiday Challenge T-Shirt shop
  
  Cafepress is an interactive online marketplace capable of producing customized T-shirts and shipping them worldwide. We've selected Cafepress.com as our source for challenge T-shirts because of our experience with the quality of their shirts and their customer service. The shirts we've ordered from Cafepress have held up well after washing and are high quality Hanes cotton T's.
  
  Note: The purchase of any Cafepress.com product is processed entirely by Cafepress.com and any customer service questions about your order should be directed to them. Customer support information can be found in the Cafepress.com Help section.

100K Finishers

Participants who row 100,000 meters are entitled to the following incentives and rewards:

• A free downloadable certificate of achievement
• A free downloadable heat transfer for making your own Holiday Challenge-wear

Preparing for the Holiday Challenge

If rowing 200,000 meters in a month is a new challenge for you, here are a few ideas to help prepare before the challenge begins:

• If you haven't tried it before, don't be intimidated! Each year we hear from folks who have never rowed any long distances before and have completed the challenge.
• Gradually build your rowing time. Try adding an extra 1000 meters per day, especially if you don't usually row 7000 meters at a time.
• If you don't usually row every day, try rowing for several days in a row. The rows can be short, but see how it feels to row more often.
• Be sure to keep some stretching in your routine or add it if you haven't been doing it regularly. See our recommended stretches.
• Think about when you will fit your extra Holiday Challenge rowing into your schedule. If it requires that you row at a different time of day, you should try it out ahead of time. For example, if you don't usually row first thing in the morning, keep in mind that it may take you longer to warm up at that time of day, and you should not expect to be able to row as hard and as fast as usual right away.
• Will you miss any days of rowing due to travel or other commitments? If so, plan ahead, so that you can make up the missed meters. For example, you may want to row twice a day on some of the weekends.
• Be sensible! Many people have commented that the Holiday Challenge pushed them to row more than they ever thought they could, and it felt great! On the other hand, it is not wise to make a sudden jump in rowing time and distance so keep this in mind. You can build your daily meters gradually, even during the Challenge itself.