The next charity event will benefit the Japan Tsunami and Earthquake relief efforts.

The reason we have chosen to donate all proceeds of this year’s One Hour Long Cycle to Japan, “Higashi Nihon Daishinsai”, the Eastern Japan Great Earthquake Disaster. On Friday, March 11, 2011, an undersea megathrust earthquake with a magnitude 9.0, struck about 45 miles east of Japan’s Oshika Peninsula from an underwater depth of 20 miles. The earthquake was the most powerful to have ever hit Japan and actually shifted the planet on its axis by up to 10 inches and slid Honshu, the largest island of Japan, 8 feet laterally. The quake triggered devastating tsunamis, unleashing waves of up to 133 feet, in some cases sweeping up to 6 miles inland. In addition to being responsible for the thousands of lives lost, injuries, and individuals still uncounted for, the tsunamis caused a number of nuclear accidents and destroyed or damaged 125,00 buildings across the span of 18 prefectures.

Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan has mentioned this catastrophe to be the most difficult crisis Japan has had to deal with in the 65 years post WWII. The battered communities need all and any assistance they can get from the rest of the world right now. We have chosen to do our best to lend a helping hand, no matter how small, in the scheme of things, that hand might be. We will do this as a united group of people, as one unit, as kettlebell lifters. We will work as hard as possible and bare all that we can, for 60 minutes, for a great cause. Come join us in lifting in and or donating to this year’s One Hour Long Cycle.

Our good friend Nazo was trapped in Japan during the natural disasters. She wrote a heartfelt blog entry while dealing with the crisis. It’s titled “Nazo from Tokyo”. The link is below, and I would highly recommend reading it.

http://orangekettlebellclub.net/2011/03/18/nazo-from-tokyo/

Thank you,

Jason Dolby

You can donate Online by clicking the “donate” button where you can donate by credit card or PayPal.