Oregon’s Club Crew team will begin its annual fund-raiser at 4 a.m. today.
The team will then end it in the same fashion as it started — in the dark.
For 48 straight hours, until the clock hits 4 a.m. on Friday, 35 members of Oregon’s crew team will take turns rowing on erg machines outside of the University Bookstore. Each member will row for one hour and then hand the machine over to the next teammate in line.
For more than 20 years, the team has been putting on the fund-raiser in order to raise money to cover entry fees for upcoming regattas.
“We used to row in the middle of the EMU amphitheater in real water, but recently we have moved it to the bookstore location and we just use erg machines,” crew coordinator Melissa Johnson said. “We really count on everyone to participate because it’s a good time to make some money that will really help us out.”
The club will set up two individual erg machines, and students will be able to buy raffle tickets on Wednesday and Thursday. A donation of $1 will buy students one raffle ticket or students can donate $5 and receive six raffle tickets.
By entering the raffle, students have the chance to win various electronic prizes and gift certificates to several Eugene restaurants and businesses.
The Ducks have been training all year, but this Monday marked the beginning of their first day of training outside — Dexter Lake — since the Thanksgiving holiday.
“We are really excited to finally get back on the lake since all winter we have just been training inside on the same erg machines you will see us using during the fund-raiser,” Johnson said. Although Oregon has not been on the water for quite some time, they have managed to find other ways to compete. Last month, the Ducks competed in Erg-O-Mania in Seattle.
Seven rowers represented Oregon in the event. In the lightweight division, Oregon took home both “The Fastest College Female” and “The Fastest College Male” titles.
Oregon will host its first regatta at Dexter Lake on March 13. Evergreen State, Oregon State, Portland State and Washington State will all compete against Oregon. The regatta will mark the beginning of a string of eight straight weekend outings for the Ducks.