Stoughton Police to Participate in Boston Strong Workout Marathon at Gillette Stadium

The following is adapted from a release from the METROLEC SWAT team:

The METROLEC SWAT team, in conjunction with Gillette Stadium, will host a symbolic 26-hour First Responder Workout Marathon to raise money to assist victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, including MBTA Officer Richard Donohue and the family of MIT Officer Sean Collier. All proceeds will be donated to “The One Fund”.

The workout marathon will be held in and around Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place on Saturday, June 22 and Sunday, June 23 .  The workouts, led by Cross Fit & Fitness coaches, will kickoff Saturday at 2:50 p.m. and conclude on Sunday at 5 p.m.  

Nearly 500 first responders will engage in this 26 hour workout challenge, including Lt. John Bonney, Officer Jen Sullivan and Officer John Gagne of the Stoughton Police Department, according to a post on the SPD Facebook page.

SPD Chief Paul Shastany will also be in attendance, as will chiefs from other area police departments, according to the post.  

This first ever event will involve police officers, firefighters, nurses and paramedics, many of whom responded to the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15. The endurance event will not be open to the public.

There are 35 teams of 10 to 12 people and each team will be asked to raise a minimum of $2,600in pledges per team.  Metro LEC SWAT and each of the participating teams are hopeful that their efforts will allow them to reach their goal of raising over $100,000 for this worthy cause. 

Please help by making a donation  through the website at any time (until 2:50 pm on Monday June 24 or via text message during the event.  The “text a donation” information will be on the event website www.bswm617.com  both Saturday and Sunday.

There are teams from several law enforcement councils throughout Massachusetts including Metro LEC, SEMLEC, CEMLEC as well as various other teams from Massachusetts, Conn., Rhode Island and New Hampshire. 

There are also several teams from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office, Department of Correction and military teams from the National Guard and the Coast Guard.  Each Metro LEC community will be represented at this event in some capacity.

The workout marathon will consist of 26 separate workout stations in and around Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place. These workout stations are designed to replicate job specific functions that first responders (Fire, Police, Military, Doctors, Nurses and Paramedics) would encounter. 

An example of one event might be a “hose carry” station, whereby the participants carry sections of hose through a designated route in the stadium-complete a series of tasks- and return the hose to the starting location.

Another example might be an “armored vehicle steeple chase” where competitors are required to jog or walk the designated trail and climb over several police style armored vehicles. There will also be other types of Cross Fit activity stations as well.  

Each team, not individuals, must complete a set amount of repetitions per exercise station. The workouts will be geared toward people of all fitness levels.

During the first six hours of the event, the entire team will be required to workout. After completing the first six-hour portion of the event, a minimum of six competitors must continue the workout. Teams will be allowed to rotate personnel through the 25th hour of the event. In the 26th and final hour, all teams will be encouraged to finish the event together.

Metro LEC dispatched significant resources to Boston from the time of the Marathon bombing continuing through the massive search and manhunt in Watertown that week.  When they returned to their own departments, they were so impacted by what had occurred that they wanted to do something to help the victims of these horrific events.  Sgt. Jason Brennan of Medway Police Department and Detective Chris Baker of Franklin Police Department came up with the idea of a First Responder Marathon. 

Metro LEC would like to thank Gillette Stadium for graciously hosting this event, Veteran Training Athletics (www.veterantrainingathletics.com) for providing Cross Fit and fitness coaches, and Tricia Byrnes of Fine Products in Hingham, (www.fineproductions.com ) for putting together the post event festivities.  

Family and spectator details will be posted to the event website soon www.bswn617.com .