Local fitness group says participants set unofficial world burpee record
Forced to come up with a new game plan due to the pandemic, a group of local gyms and breweries staged their annual fundraiser by jointly performing burpees in several dozen remote locations Sunday and set an unofficial world record.
The group known as Crews and Brews assembled nearly 1,500 participants in 20 gyms and 10 breweries across Windsor and Essex County in order to set the record for the most people performing burpees at one time, according to the group's co-founder, Tony Smith, who is also the owner of Garage Gym.
Last year, the group raised $125,000 while gathered at the WFCU Centre, but this year a more modest goal of $50,000 was targeted with all funds to be donated to the Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation.
“This year, we have double the gyms participating, but obviously not all at the same place,” Smith said.
“Everybody across Essex County is hosting small groups of people, while some others are doing ( burpees) at home.”
Shortly after 2 p.m. on Sunday all participants were active for 20 minutes in performing burpees — a full-body exercise that involves squatting and jumping. They were joined together through Zoom and other online methods.
Organizers of the annual event have each been touched by cancer within their own families — including Smith whose mother and wife's mother have been diagnosed.
“A lot of families have been hit with cancer,” he said. “This is our way to raise funds and help the cancer centre foundation. I can't believe the response we got on this from everybody.”