A Dallas team of 79 people, including 12 Hockaday athletes, participated in a 30-day indoor rowing competition. Virtual teams across the world rowed as many meters as possible on an ergometer. The Dallas team finished in fourth place out of 457 world-wide teams with 13,111,470 meters rowed (that’s 8,147 miles). Annie Herring led the “Hockaday 12” by rowing 420,048 meters.
Herring then had the idea to row for food. She told Hockaday Head Rowing Coach Will Fortieth her plan was to ask sponsors to donate to the Dallas United to Learn for the meters she rowed. United to Learn provides lunches for thousands of students daily, as well as grocery gift cards for families facing coronavirus challenges. Coach Forteith built on the idea and contacted Coach Maria Esway from the Dallas Rowing Club. A new team was formed with a goal of raising at least $5,000. The “Dallas Community United to Learn Ergathon” started on May 1 with over 75 people that were either rowing, sponsoring a rower or donating. So far $8,403 has been raised.
“Maria and Annie have done a tremendous job bringing the community together to rally around our Dallas ISD schools,” said Katherine Tagtmeier, chief programs officer of United to Learn. “It’s exciting to see so many different rowing clubs working together towards one common goal of feeding our United to Learn elementary schoolers.”
