Tyler Buck wants you to challenge yourself for a good cause.
The coach at CrossFit Anchored Athletics, located just north of Duncan, is running a fundraiser for KidSport Cowichan next month that will push participants to their limits.
The Rep-A-Thon 1000 will take place at the gym on Sunday, Sept. 9. Participants will do as many reps as they can of either burpees or pull-ups for pledges that will go to KidSport, the not-for-profit that provides financial assistance for kids to play sports.
It’s a cause that’s close to Buck’s heart.
“Sports have pretty much kept me on the straight and narrow,” he said.
Playing a variety of sports growing up — including rugby, soccer, basketball and martial arts — Buck was aware of situations where a coach or another parent paid the bill to allow someone to participate. KidSport Cowichan helps kids throughout the entire Cowichan Valley, from Buck’s hometown of Ladysmith to the Malahat, and in addition to raising money for the cause, he is also hoping to help get the word out.
“I’d like to use this as an event to put KidSport out there,” he said. “To help raise awareness that there is a fund out there.”
Participants in the Rep-A-Thon 1000 can register as individuals or teams of four, with a minimum pledge of $100, and can pick the number of reps completed over the course of the day based on their fitness level. There are three levels: beginner (150 reps for an individual or 600 for a team), intermediate (200/800), and advanced (300-plus/1,000).
“The goal is to be open to anyone who wants to participate,” Buck explained.
There is also a team that will be working the rowing machines, aiming at completing a half marathon (just over 21km) over the course of the day.
Buck and fellow coach Curtis Juch will take a shot at completing 1,000 pull-ups each on the day, and they have each set the goal of raising $1,000. The overall goal for the day is to raise $5,000, and that’s just the start.
“This is something I’d like to do on an annual basis,” Buck said. “Hundreds of participants would be great.”
Buck was inspired to create the fundraiser in part by American ultramarathoner David Goggins, who ran his first 100-mile race in just 19 hours without having even run a regular 26.2-mile marathon before (although he is a retired United States Navy SEAL and United States Air Force Tactical Air Control Party member, and a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan). A regular listener to Goggins’s podcast, Buck hopes to help people push themselves, but maybe not to the same degree that Goggins does.
“I don’t want people to go to that kind of extreme,” he said. “But I want to challenge them to do something they wouldn’t do by themselves in a different environment.”
The Rep-A-Thon is taking place at Anchored Athletics, but it is not limited to members of the gym. In addition to participants, Buck is also looking for volunteers for various roles, such as coordinating teams and cheering people on. Sponsors such as 49th Parallel Grocery and Active Solutions Health + Sport clinic in Ladysmith have already stepped up, but additional sponsors are welcome as well.
For more information about sponsoring or volunteering, contact Buck at 250-716-6306. To sign up for the Rep-A-Thon 1,000 or for other details, visit https://raceroster.com/events/2018/18122/the-rep-a-thon-1000 or find The Rep-A-Thon 1000 on Facebook.
