“While doing my first and second GORUCK Light events, I kept hearing from other fellow Massachusetts GRTs that they wanted to do more regular rucking and training. So, I did some digging, asking around and using the GORUCK ruck club page to try to track down an active club. There was only one person, Audrey, from RX Strength, who was trying to keep that club spirit alive. Unfortunately, she was very busy studying for the MCAT, so I offered to help out as co-lead and get the club rolling. We went through the necessary steps of contacting Bomber and creating the appropriate social media, then we started scheduling rucks.”
“I started with posting in Facebook groups and on Instagram when and where I would be rucking and that anyone was welcome to join. The first few times, people showed interest online but couldn’t really make it in person, so I rucked alone. Finally, I got Ben to come out with me to finish up the last ten miles of our 50-mile Resolution Ruck Challenge for January 2019! Then came Nate and Spencer in February. I wondered if I was being too careless telling strangers on the internet when and where I would be, but we lucked out with a dedicated group of weirdos. In the following months, we snowballed into a sizeable group- recruiting people from Boston GORUCK events and hosting ruck club call-outs, Travis Manion Operation Legacy projects, PATHFINDER-themed training sessions, and many other ruck gatherings. Somehow, the Facebook and Instagram algorithms smiled upon us and brought in some of our now regulars, especially Erin, and then Amanda coming in with her through their shared Ingress history.”
“Ben and Erin became my co-leads. They each brought a dynamic to the rucking events we were sponsoring, and it definitely helped membership retention. Ben is our physical training guru, with his Crossfit 1 and strength and conditioning certifications. Erin is our own resident PATHFINDER Course Advisor who brings structured training and motivation to the group. Amanda is our resident nerd who brings swag to life and helps show new members that with enough grit, anyone can make it through the exercise and the event. This ensemble of leadership has helped mitigate that bane of most new ruck clubs – burnout. We ramped up #choosingtheharderthing by constantly pushing: and now we have 7 members who have completed (in some cases multiple) HTLs. A large club like Beantown thrives on diversity to help new members feel welcome. With folks who are dedicated to pushing ourselves – whether we randomly ruck 26.2 miles hitting every bar along the way, ruck 20 miles overnight to stack our challenges, or dress up to ruck the freedom trail – our mission is to keep rucking fun and build a fun community.”
– Tina Dinh, GRT of the Week
You guys ought to try rucking the dunes at Cranes Beach in Ipswich MA its a great soft sand hilly ruck