Concept2 turns 50: anniversary challenge kicks off in days

Fifty years in the making — and the party starts this week

Concept2, the Vermont-based maker of the world's most widely used indoor rowing machine, turns 50 this year, and the centrepiece of its anniversary celebrations lands in three days. The company's 50th Anniversary Challenge is scheduled for 6 November 2026 — a single day on which participants anywhere in the world are invited to row, ski, or ride for at least 50 minutes on any Concept2 machine.

The challenge is free to enter for anyone who holds an online logbook at concept2.com, and the rules are deliberately inclusive. The 50 minutes does not need to be completed in one go; it can be split across several workouts throughout the day. RowErg, SkiErg, and BikeErg sessions all count, as do on-water and on-snow metres. For children and adaptive athletes, the qualifying threshold drops to 25 minutes, with the same rewards applying.

What participants can win

Completing the challenge earns participants a place on the 50th Anniversary Challenge Honour Boards, a specially designed downloadable certificate, and the option to purchase 50th Anniversary Challenge merchandise through a third-party fulfilment vendor — though Concept2 notes that availability varies by country. Metres must be logged online; this is an individual challenge, and team membership is not required.

The company behind the challenge

Concept2 was founded in 1976 when brothers Dick and Peter Dreissigacker headed east across America in a bread truck, eventually buying an abandoned dairy farm in Vermont and converting it into what they called a "tinkerer's paradise." The pair had originally built carbon-fibre oars in the kitchen of their California apartment while training for the Montreal Olympic trials. Those oars, which weighed around five pounds compared with the 15-pound wooden oars then in common use, attracted enough attention to launch a business.

In 1981, faced with Vermont winters that froze the water and left staff idle, the company launched the Model A Indoor Rower — the first indoor rowing ergometer, or "erg." Judy Geer, an Olympic and national team rower, joined as a fourth co-founder in 1983. The product line has since expanded to include the SkiErg, the BikeErg, and most recently the StrengthErg, which was introduced in 2025.

According to Concept2, 97% of medals at the last Olympics were won using Concept2 oars. The 50th anniversary campaign is rolling out across digital, social, email, events, and paid media throughout 2026, featuring community storytelling, historical highlights, and limited-edition anniversary apparel.

Co-founder Judy Geer has described the company's longevity in straightforward terms:

"At its core, Concept2 has always been about community. The people who use our products and believe in what we do are the reason we're here 50 years later."

Peter Dreissigacker has offered a similarly direct explanation of the company's design philosophy:

"We do not like to follow trends, but rather, do things that have not been done or at least do them differently."

What comes next: SkiErg Sprints and the Holiday Challenge

The 50th Anniversary Challenge is just the opening event in a busy November. The annual SkiErg World Sprints follow on 12–15 November 2026, a virtual race over 1,000 metres open to age categories ranging from 12 and under through to 80 and above, as well as adaptive classes. Participants can race independently or as part of an organised event; the SkiErg Finder on Concept2's website can help locate a nearby event for those without their own machine.

Individual times must be entered in a Concept2 Online Logbook by 16 November at 22:00 GMT. Clubs or teams that submit 15 or more individual results from an organised event will be entered into a raffle for a new SkiErg for their facility, provided results are emailed by the same deadline.

From 26 November to 24 December 2026, the annual Holiday Challenge takes over. The goal is to row, ski, or ride a combined total of at least 100,000 or 200,000 metres on Concept2 machines — on-water and on-snow metres do not count for this one, and BikeErg metres are tallied at half their face value. A Kids' Holiday Challenge runs simultaneously for under-16s, with a 50,000-metre target.

There is also a charitable element: for every participant who reaches 100,000 metres, Concept2 donates $0.02 per kilometre to a charity of the participant's choosing from that year's list. In 2025, nearly 19,500 participants from 105 countries logged just over 6.1 billion metres during the challenge, raising $62,004.90. Since 2008, Concept2 says the Holiday Challenge has generated a total of $778,240.01 in charitable donations.

UK pricing and access

For UK buyers considering joining the Concept2 ecosystem ahead of these events, current prices listed on Concept2's own UK site include the RowErg at £990 (standard legs), the wall-mounted SkiErg at £815, the BikeErg at £1,160, and the new StrengthErg at £1,575 with a monitor. Third-party UK retailers list varying prices — one comparison site cited the RowErg from £1,095 and the SkiErg from £909 as of August 2026 — so it is worth checking concept2.co.uk directly for the most current figures. No UK-specific anniversary pricing promotions have been confirmed.

Concept2 equipment is found in gyms, rowing clubs, CrossFit boxes, HYROX events, and homes across the UK, meaning the 6 November challenge is well within reach for a large number of existing users — many of whom will not need to do anything more than log in and pull.