MADISON, WI – The 2018 CrossFit Open was a PR disaster for Xebex, the red-headed stepchild in the world of rowing machines. All that changed days ago when Games Director Dave Castro announced of a marathon rowing race totaling 42,000 meters for the elite athletes at this week’s CrossFit Games.
During the Open, Xebex was pilloried when it became evident its rowing machines were short counting meters giving unfair advantages to athletes on Xebex rowers.
Xebex thinks the just-announced marathon row presents a unique opportunity. “A 42K row is just too much,” said Xebex Director of Product Development, Dan Koloski. “Even Christopher Columbus would have refused to row that far. For that reason, we have partnered with Mercury Marine to produce a new rower powered by a 25 horsepower outboard engine—the 1492 Power Rower Plus”.
Reportedly, the Xebex Power Rower will also come with an adjustable damper to manipulate the engine’s power augmentation. Predictably, however, there is no definitive explanation of how the damper works in application.
The Xebex Power Rower will be on display and available for test drives or wakeboard lessons later today on the lake at Burrows Park in Madison.
In related news, Concept 2 just announced its new joint venture with Tempur-pedic to develop a memory foam seat cushion which will soon be available for its existing Concept 2 rowers devoted to marathon distances global circumnavigation.