How it all happened

A few weeks ago, Tom Demaio reached out about his close mate Yak. A bloke in need. A bloke none of us at Rhino had met. Tom asked if we could help, and we jumped at it and started thinking.

What if we rowed for 26 hours straight? One hour for every year of Yak's life. We had three weeks. The Joeys boys had a bye that weekend. It was now or never.

The original plan was simple: 26 one-hour slots, members rowing for a stranger. $100 a slot for Yak. Then the boys looked at each other and said, "Nah, fuck it, let's get a team and row the whole 26 hours straight." Then another team said they were in. Then another. Then another. Suddenly we had four rowers going non-stop for 26 hours, and without those four, the vibe of this event doesn't exist. They were the heartbeat.

Then the boys decided to make it harder. "Let's hit 300km." They absolutely crushed it. 400 bloody kilometres in the bank. Thanks for bloody coming!

The donations rolled in. Local businesses stepped up. People we don't even know dug into their pockets for Yak.

And those last two minutes, watching everyone gather around and cheer the rowers home after 26 hours. I'm not going to lie, I had tears in my eyes.

It made me think: would my mates do this for me? Would some random gym community step in if it was me who needed help? I hope so. And if it ever happens, I hope I have a Rhino community half as epic as the one we have right now.

So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. To the Rhino staff. To every member who rowed, donated, cheered, or just showed up. To Yak's mates and family. To Tom for trusting us with this.

We couldn't be prouder to call this place ours.