Back in October, eCoronado wrote a feature article about phenomenal Coronado local, Ashley Linder, and LinderKids, Linder’s non-profit organization which aims to positively impact the lives of eligible foster children through fitness and community. It was Linder’s time spent in the foster care system that helped inspire her to create LinderKids — to help youth with a similar background. On Friday, December, 12th through 13th, 2014, Linder and fellow athlete, Josh Klein, will officially attempt to set and break the Guinness World Record for the most pull ups performed in a twenty four hour period.
Linder– a CrossFit certified coach, and Klein– active duty Navy with an athletic background in endurance sports, are attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the most pull ups performed in a twenty four hour period, in an effort to raise awareness for Linderkids and issues surrounding foster children, “Sometimes it takes big, bold endeavors to gain attention, and our hope is that if people are talking about this crazy attempt, they will in turn be talking about LinderKids and foster children,” says Linder. It is Linder’s personal goal to have everybody in the country really understand just how many children are in foster care and how they can positively impact the lives of foster kids.
Josh Klein and Ashley Linder. Photo Credit: LinderKids
Linder also hopes her world record attempt makes a positive statement to young children, especially girls, “Anything is possible!” says Linder, “Even if I don’t make my goal to set the world record I’m taking a chance and putting myself out there. Winning is a wonderful feeling and failure is, at times, inevitable. I want to encourage young people to do things that frighten them; action creates courage. I want to encourage young people to step into their own power, dream big, and execute! If you don’t take action, despite your fear of failure, the opportunity will simply pass you by.”
The current official Guinness World Record for men’s pull ups in a twenty four hour period is a whopping 4,210, achieved by Australian, Caine Eckstein, on the set of NBC’s Today Show in New York on October 6th through 7th, 2014. There is no record for females. Guinness World Records made the female category and are requiring a minimum of 2,500 pull-ups for the first record to be set!
Linder and Klein have been training for months, “Our training regime alternates between weighted pull-ups, negatives, volume days, and strengthening accessory muscles.”
The event will be held over the bridge at Fathom CrossFit, Barrio Logan. The address is 1985 National Ave, San Diego, 92113. Their doors will be open for twenty four hours from 8am and spectators are welcome.
Linder explains the process of organizing an event such as this, “it starts by reaching out to Guinness World Records. You apply to officially attempt a record, and patiently wait for approval. When we were approved we then set a date and kept them on-board. Come the day of our attempt we will have strict guidelines for movement standards and taping of the attempt.”
Footprint Film, a San Diego based production company, has made videos for LinderKids in the past and will be filming the attempt on the day.
Linder and Klein hope to raise a significant amount of money from the event, and donations can be made here. Proceeds will go to non-profit organization, LinderKids, which will positively impact the lives of many foster children in the form of a CrossFit gym sponsorship. Exercise, in addition to its physical benefits, is known to improve cognitive function, self esteem, and mental and emotional health. The vast majority of foster youth experience a deficit in these areas due to their traumatic backgrounds.
LinderKids sponsorship comes with strict conditions: eligible foster youth have to “earn” their sponsorship by respecting themselves. This involves maintaining best effort grades at school; and performing community service hours, which provides foster youth with the empowering opportunity to contribute to their community. In return– just like other sponsored athletes– the foster children are given athletic clothing and athletic shoes. Also the LinderKids team is there to offer the foster children support and ensure they are looked after.
Linder wishes to highlight, “Foster children deserve to be talked about, they deserve a chance to belong to a community, and we can all play a part in helping them elevate above their adversity.”
For more information about the event or to donate, go to www.linderkids.com or visit the LinderKids Facebook page here.
Film created by FootPrint Film for LinderKids
Image Credit: LinderKids
Siobhan Bailie
StaffWriter
eCoronado.com
