The Notre Dame rowing team will host its fourth-annual Erg-A-Thon on Friday afternoon, as the team works to raise money for pancreatic cancer research.
“We started [the Erg-A-Thon] four years ago because a couple girls on our team had parents or relatives affected by pancreatic cancer,” senior Christine McGough said. “It’s a pretty serious cancer. It’s one of the most deadly cancers of the most common ones.”
Last year’s Erg-A-Thon raised over $9,500 dollars for the Harper Cancer Research Institute, according to senior and co-chair of Erg-A-Thon Vicky Ryan.
“We donate the money to undergraduate research over there, so it’s going right back to the school,” Ryan said.
At the event, there will be a line of “ergs” set up, which are the rowing machines used by the team to train during South Bend’s winter months, Ryan said. For a small donation of $3, a person can choose to row or have one of the girls on the team row for them in races against friends or other distinguished Notre Dame persons.
“We’ve had races where different athletes will come and race,” McGough said. “Our manager came and raced us last year … We had a couple professors come out and race last year. It’s a fun event.”
McGough even admitted that last year, the team manager raced against and actually beat her.
“It’s a sprint at the Erg-A-Thon though,” McGough said. “Sprinting isn’t my thing.”
In addition to the rowing, there will be a raffle with various Notre Dame prize packages, she said.
“There’s going to be women’s basketball game and men’s basketball game tickets and signed ball packages,” McGough said. “There will also be a Brian Kelly signed football with field passes to the Stanford game, and naming rights to one of our boats.”
New this year is the added dimension of a quad competition, McGough said. Whichever quad of dorms races the farthest will be given a few points towards the Hall Cup, since the rowing team does not have an actual home meet. There will also be t-shirts available that the rowing team designed specifically for the event.
“There’s a purple one and a pink one,” McGough said. “But the purple one is the main one, since that is the color of pancreatic cancer [awareness].”
Even though rain is in the forecast for Friday afternoon, McGough said she believes the day will still turn out beautifully.
“We’ll be there rain or shine,” McGough said. “Everyone else should come out and have a great time. It’ll be lucky. We’ve had four years of good weather, so fingers crossed.”
The Erg-A-Thon will be on Fieldhouse Mall, just behind the Lafortune Student Center from 12 to 7 p.m., Friday afternoon.
