A New Record at Strength Day: Nearly 100,000 Pullups

Oh, what people can do if they have sufficient strength! Oh, what Latvia can do if it has strong people! Oh, yes – this year people taking part in Strength Day events beat several records from last year. At 80 locations throughout Latvia, 9,551 participants engaged in pullups – 94,438 in all. In terms of participants, this is the second largest sports event in Latvia behind the Lattelecom Rīga Marathon.

Latvian Railways partners with the Latvian Street Exercise Association and partners such as DDB, Nords Porter Novelli, NECom and others to present Strength Day as an athletic family event at which people can test their strengths. Strength is not an unchanging entity, it must be developed day by day, and we need it every day. That was the basis for our communications about Strength Day about for our homepage.

Among those who took part in pullups were families with children, the entire Latvian bobsled team, a group of kindergarteners in Rēzekne, ladies in high heels, and a few elderly people who did better at pullups than more than just a few well-trained young people. Much respect was won by people in wheelchairs or with broken legs who performed pullups nonetheless.

The ambassadors for Strength Day this year were Lauris Dzelzītis, Samanta Tīna and Jānis Traubergs, who all showed that one can develop his or her strength substantially during just one month.

The best results this year were posted by a young man in Bauska who performed 80 pullups. Among ladies, a young lady in Rīga performed 45 pullups. The competition involved not just people, but also cities. Which city won in terms of the most pullups? Find out on our homepage, and you can find images from the event here.

Strength Day was originated by Latvian Railways and the Latvian Street Exercise Association, but it is now an even that occurs all around the world. This year, for the second year in a row, 26,719 people in 70 other countries visited 341 Strength Day venues and performed 375,372 pullups. Details results country by country can be found here. One thing is clear – we are on our way to setting a world record!

Strength Day this year did a lot to prove that Latvia has strengths that we can certainly develop and expand! Next year let’s all come together for the fifth Strength Day, but let’s keep thinking about our strength every day – that is what we need the most!