For a seventh consecutive year, members of the Community Hospital Fitness Pointe® team have been named champions of the World Rowing competition. Overall the team placed first, this time rowing a whopping 25,793,808 meters, beating out 56 other international teams entered in the Health/Fitness division.
Sponsored by Concept2, a manufacturer of indoor rowing equipment, the challenge took place March 15 to April 15 at the medically-based fitness center, 9950 Calumet Avenue. Some 201 rowers, comprised of health facility staff and members, participated, keeping the title in Munster.
“We are proud to call our team ‘champions’ and appreciate their personal efforts to strive to be their very best,” said Nikki Sarkisian, fitness facility supervisor for Fitness Pointe. “It takes commitment, endurance, strength and stamina to earn this title one time and our team has done that seven-times over.”
Six team members rowed more than one million meters: Gary DeYoung (Munster), Joyce Windchester (Highland), Dale Windchester (Highland), Franco Molinaro (St. John), Judy Abbott (Munster) and Tony Alessandri (Dyer).
In order to attain this level of recognition, teammates put their lives on hold for the four-week period of the competition and focus on rowing and one goal, according to Dale Windchester.
“We row from six to eight hours every day – three hours or so in the morning, then again in the afternoon,” explained Windchester. “You have to be dedicated. You really have to set yourself a goal and stay focused to do your best every day.”
Ten members of the Fitness Pointe team rowed more than 500,000 meters: John Neighbors (Griffith), 902,310; Ed Lebryk (Munster), 793,330; Shailash Bhatt (Munster), 740,689; Anna Konda (Munster), 740,000; Dan Chapman (Munster), 708,240; William Russell (Dyer), 682,516; Billie Spence (Highland), 611,701; Evelyn Nelson (Lansing), 550,003; Pat Kaczmarczyk (Dyer), 504,391 and Brad Rathert (Munster), 500,482.
Fifteen participants rowed more than 200,000 meters including: Marty Puzon (Schererville), 342,730; Charles Remmers (Whiting), 300,000; Martha Karanovich (Hammond), 297,047; Nancy Weinberg (Munster), 292,198; Pattie Dobin (Cedar Lake), 251,118; Sharon Ashby (Highland), 237,340; Janet Gremba (Lansing), 223,302; Kalpana Bhatt (Munster), 218,268; Monty Walker (Cedar Lake), 214,790; Roger DePirro (Crown Point), 214,100; Zak Pala (Munster), 206,535; Michele Beigle (Griffith), 205,000; Nicholas Stone (Munster), 200,969; Diane Bragiel (Munster), 200,858 and Gene Evancic (St. John), 200,141.
Twenty-nine participants rowed more than 100,000 meters including: Ken Morton (Lansing), 188,873; Diana Hector (Schererville), 183,140; Patsy Yackanich (Hammond), 170,000; Jeff Pashen (Schererville), 161,447; Maureen Jones (Munster), 153,768; MaryJo Saksa (Munster), 153,708; Ken Eggebrecht (Calumet City), 149,750; Carol Miceli (Chicago), 140,347; Carmen Covelli (Munster), 139,240; Sandy Franczak (St. John), 136,015; Adolph Ferber (Schererville), 135,000; Donna Manous (Munster), 130,451; Tom Pilewski (Lansing), 122,418; Bharti Shah (Schererville), 121,421; Dan Bolda (Calumet City), 120,000; Rosanna Fowler (Munster), 116,920; Leslie Jongsma (Munster), 113,835; Jerry Stokes (Griffith), 112,711; Dave Balog (Crown Point), 111,000; Alicia Tassaro (Munster), 107,577; Barbara Williams (Hammond), 105,010; John Burke (St. John), 104,277; Mark Jurjevic (Highland), 103,544; James Greven (Highland), 101,919; George Korthauer (Dyer), 100,589; Tracey Gerber (Munster), 100,370; Chuck Zekis (Munster), 100,326; Don Harmon (Dyer), 100,133 and Michael Sons (Highland), 100,041.
Community Hospital Fitness Pointe helps individuals achieve life-long health and fitness through innovative, quality programs, state of the art equipment and highly credentialed staff. For more information about the programs and services available visit our web site at www.comhs.org/community/fitness_pointe.asp.
For more information about Concept2 programs and challenges, visit online at https://log.concept2.com/challenges/wec/2016/teams.
