Pelham studio offers outdoor rowing without the water

The Pelham Community Rowing Association is offering outdoor classes twice a week.

News 12 Staff

Sep 22, 2020, 2:50 PM

Updated 1,480 days ago

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As many gyms struggle to bring clients back, one local studio in southern Westchester is growing in the middle of the pandemic one stroke at a time.
The Pelham Community Rowing Association is really getting into the swing of things after trying to open its first of a kind studio back in March.
The indoor facility, which features 30 machines, didn't launch on time, but owners pivoted and began offering outdoor classes twice a week across the street at Wolf’s Lane Park.
Each one of the rowing machines is eight feet apart and allows anyone in the community to get some exercise safely.. "Everything feels the most normal when I'm coaching rowing, whether that's on the water or here socially distanced in a park. It was a lot of hard work to get this gym open again, so we're just so excited to be able to bring this sport to so many more people," says instructor Elizabeth Calder.
Their growth during a pandemic comes at an interesting time when other big-box gyms just can't keep up. Recently a pair of major national gym chains filed for bankruptcy after the state's gym shutdown forced them into financial trouble.
But they're optimistic in Pelham that they can open the indoor facility soon, which will also serve as the official training site for 150 members of the local youth and master's rowing teams.