Coaches Complete 2,169 Burpees for One Fund

More than just muscles benefitted from exercises completed at a fundraiser held April 26 in Charlestown.

Coaches at Avalon CrossFit, located in the new Knights of Columbus building on Medford Street, volunteered to do one burpee, or squat thrust, for every $1 donated to The One Fund Boston, for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. In addition, the business donated the proceeds from classes scheduled that day to the cause, referred to as "hero" classes.

In the end, Avalon CrossFit in Charlestown raised $2,637 for the fund.

Charlestown resident and Avalon member Nino Balduzzi kicked off the day with a $500 donation.

“It is only fair payback to the coaches at Avalon who program so many burpees into our workouts,” he joked with the staff after making his donation.

Fifty-two Avalon members participated in the day's workouts or donated to the burpee pot, and many did both. By 6:30 p.m., when the burpee money was counted it had reached $2,169, so the staff had to do 2,169 burpees.

"The burpee is a total body exercise made up of a push-up like movement and squat thrust that is especially taxing. It is a staple of CrossFit workouts," according to a press release distributed after the event.

Avalon owner Cori DiDonato, who participated in the burpee-off, was quite happy with the results of the event.

“We basically put the event together in three and were surprised at how fast the word got out on our Facebook page. This was totally our members getting behind the event and getting their friends, companies and co-workers to come down and support it," DiDonato said.

Avalon coaches John Pontius, Taylor Poulin, Eric L’Italien, Blady Sanchez and Zach Lynde also did burpees for the event.

Lynne McLaughlin, a Charlestown resident and Avalon member, expressed best the thoughts of many in the community, saying, "This is what Bostonians do—we help out when we can, how we can, whenever we can."