Courtesy photo Participants of the 2nd annual row-a-thon display their athleticism on the rowing equipment at CrossFit Saturday.

CrossFit TUFF, the gym located on exit 6 in Nashua, held the 2nd annual Special Olympics row-a-thon Saturday morning and afternoon in a successful effort to raise thousands of dollars for the Special Olympics. This year, the event raised over twelve thousand dollars, which is four times the amount of last year’s revenue.

Rowing competitions between Nashua Special Olympic athletes like Scott Mccullough took place all morning until the award ceremony around 2pm. Scott’s enthusiasm for Saturday morning and his love for the competitions perfectly showcased the supportive atmosphere of the games and their audiences.

“This event means a lot” Scott said. “We raised over twelve thousand dollars for Nashua’s Special Olympics. It’s a row-a-thon benefitting NSO, and we have a lot of teams from like Nashua PD, Nashua PD 1 Nashua PD 2, and I’d like to thank John for all his hard work, and Lance for all the hard work and Karen, and all these coaches who came out and did this event. It’s awesome.”

Referred to by Scott, John Duncan and Lance McAadam were just two of the near dozen masterminds and hard workers that made the event possible for a second year in a row. Lance, a volunteer coach for the SO and a part time coach at TUFF, was at the event last year, and he was able to witness the growth in numbers for both the teams and the audience.

“Last year we had eleven teams and raised about five thousand dollars, this year we had seventeen teams and a couple other financial donations,” he said.

John Duncan is the owner and head coach of Crossfit TUFF, and like many others there, he valued the fact that the special Olympics were becoming more and more popular by the year in Cities like Nashua.

“I think the best part of the event is bringing so many different people from around the surrounding communities to really display what the Special Olympics is all about, give these guys the opportunity to not only be part of a community, but shine, and you can see that with the almost 200 plus people that were in here.”

Saturday morning’s row-a-thon also featured an exciting rowing showdown by a group of Nashua Police Department officers and about ten volunteers from the Nashua Fire Department. For the second year in a row, the NFD took home the trophy. Mark Wholey, one of the athletes and a Captain with the NFD talked about why he participated on Saturday.

“Special Olympic athletes, those are the kids that put forth the effort every single day so for us to come out here for a few hours and put a little bit of effort in on the rowing machine to benefit them financially, and everything that they have to battle through in life is- that’s why we’re out here” he said.

NSL CrossFit coach Jordan Chabinsky had spent months with many of the Special Olympic Athletes prior to the row-a-thon, making him just about the most qualified there at the event to give an accurate report on what was so special about these athletes’ effort in their training. The exercises the athletes challenged themselves with and mastered were more than physical. He explained how he watched many of them go from being too nervous to try and jump on a box for a workout to being masters of their own athletic craft, their efforts and incredible training being celebrated in today’s fair.

“We help them to not only have fun but to showcase what they’ve been able to achieve on their own, and I know that every single one of them, the only thing they want is to just be treated like everybody else.” He said

“When we come here, were, all on the same teams together and were doing the same workouts together, they for sure feel It that they are just like everybody else, because that’s the truth.”