Gas City Crossfit owner and head coach Kaine Dick jumps rope as part of his club's 24-hour workout challenge to raise toys for the Medicine Hat News Santa Claus Fund. This year, Kaine took on the challenge in six-hour shifts with his wife and fellow owner/trainer Britteny Dick. -- NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
It may be quiet like the night before Christmas, but there are still creatures stirring fervently in a 24-hour workout at Gas City Crossfit this weekend.
Gas City Crossfit owner/trainers Kaine and Britteny Dick have teamed up to take on the club’s fourth annual 24-hour workout to raise toy donations for the Medicine Hat News Santa Claus Fund, which began Friday and carries on into Saturday.
“We’ve got some presents, which is nice, and we’re just chipping away at these workouts,” said Kaine.
“It’s hard with the pandemic, people aren’t making money, businesses are shutting down, some parents lose jobs, the least we can do is give back to our community. I’ve lived here my whole life.”
The husband-and-wife team is taking on the event in six-hour rotating shifts, allowing small periods of rest and recovery while still putting in 12 hours worth of various crossfit workouts over the course of a single day.
“She wanted to try it out, but she didn’t want to do the full 12 so we thought we’d just break it up into four shifts,” said Kaine.
The idea for the charitable challenge came about when former trainer Charlie Bruce decided he was going to give back to the community in the best way he knew how – by working out.
“He was a British soldier here. He wanted to give back to our (crossfit) community and he wanted to give back to Medicine Hat,” said Kaine, adding Bruce has since been shipped out, leaving him to take the reins of the initiative. “I did the 24 hours last year, and now it’s me and my wife.”
It was a bit different this year – with no cheering section and square workout stations marked several feet apart with blue tape on the mats – but the spirit remained the same. Both Britteny and Kaine had groups of one or two teammates stop by for workouts throughout the day to help support each of them in their push, while dropping off toys along the way.
“It’s just nice to see that people are coming together, and using their money that they’ve worked hard for, to give back to our community,” Kaine said, standing just a few feet away from a small but impressive mountain of donated toys. “Being a pandemic, it’s amazing.”
