A huge shoutout to everyone who gave it their all for brain cancer awareness at our Connor’s Erg Live Challenge on Sunday, February 23, at Greenfields, Albert Park! With 80 participants across 12 teams, you powered through for the cause and helped raise over $20,000—an incredible effort!
A big congratulations to our top teams, all from CrossFit Red Bluff, who dominated the women’s, men’s, and mixed categories!
A heartfelt thank you to our major sponsor, Hyundai Help For Kids, for their generous support, and to our amazing volunteers who dedicated their Sunday morning to making this event a success. And how incredible was it to have Connor’s Erg Ambassador and Olympic Gold Medalist rower Rosie Popa join us?
We also want to extend our gratitude to our fantastic supporting partners: Concept2, 776BC, and Stomping Ground Moorabbin. Thank you all for making this event so special!
Learn more at connorserg.com
Connor’s Erg Challenge 2025
10 years of rowing our hearts out for brain cancer
Hosted by the Robert Connor Dawes (RCD) Foundation, Connor’s Erg is a rowing challenge to help raise funds and awareness for kids with brain cancer. In 2025 the Foundation celebrates 10 years, and invites gyms, schools, rowing clubs and individuals to register, and set their own rowing challenge or join the 120 minute in-person Melbourne event.
About Connor’s Erg Challenge
Connor’s Erg Challenge is a literal show of strength against childhood brain cancer that is presented by the Robert Connor Dawes (RCD) Foundation and hosted by each participating university, school, gym or rowing team. Traditionally the teams row a virtual 100K relay during the week leading up to Valentine’s Day. Teams can keep the Valentine’s Day tradition alive and pick a day during Valentines’ Day week, or another date in the month of February.
The live event (returning for a second year) will take place at Greenfields Albert Park, where teams of 4-6 will compete in a 120-minute relay challenge.
Connor’s Erg Challenge is hosted in memory of Robert ‘Connor’ Dawes who was born in Wisconsin in 1994. A child of two countries, Connor spent most of his life living in Australia and loving America. Connor applied to Wisconsin and Stanford Universities and was invited to attend Stanford summer school the day before his brain tumour surgery. Connor was determined to study and row, until he was robbed of the chance. Connor passed away
“Support from events like Connor’s Erg Challenge helps to spur innovative research, because that kind of flexible funding provides brain tumor scientists with the ability to test new hypotheses and go in new scientific directions,” said Michelle Monje, a preeminent paediatric brain cancer researcher at Stanford.
Money raised will also go towards high impact research projects such as the Brain Cancer Vaccine Project at The University of Queensland.
The event has raised close to $650,000 during its first nine challenges; this year’s Australian event goal is to raise an additional $50,000.
The Colgate women’s rowing team is participating in the annual ERG challenge to raise funds and awareness for childhood brain cancer. The challenge takes place this week, with the team hosting their event on Thursday. Funds raised support the Robert Connor Dawes Foundation, dedicated to battling pediatric brain cancer through research and care projects.
The Big Picture
The ERG challenge is a significant fundraising event that involves rowing teams from various universities competing to support the fight against childhood brain cancer, with a focus on honoring the memory of Robert Connor Dawes.
By the Numbers
- The ERG challenge is a 100-kilometer rowing competition.
- The Robert Connor Dawes Foundation was founded in 2013 in memory of Robert ‘Connor’ Dawes, who lost his battle with brain cancer at 18 years old.
State of Play
- The Colgate women’s rowing team is preparing to host their ERG challenge event from 4:30-6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
- This year’s ERG challenge is supported by major sponsors, the Northwestern Mutual Foundation and Jacobus Energy.
Bottom Line
The annual ERG challenge presents an opportunity for the Colgate women’s rowing team to contribute to the fight against childhood brain cancer, showcasing their dedication to raising funds and awareness for this cause.
Connor’s Erg is a rowing challenge to help raise funds and awareness for kids with brain cancer. We’re inviting gyms, schools, rowing clubs and individuals to register, and set their own rowing challenge in February 2024.
Use your brawn for the brain to help fight paediatric brain cancer, the #1 disease killer of young people.
Registration is free, and now open!
About Connor’s Erg
Connor was determined to study and row, until brain cancer robbed him of the chance. Connor applied to Wisconsin and Stanford Universities and was invited to attend Stanford summer school the day before his brain tumour surgery.
During Connor’s treatment, Craig Amerkhanian, coach of Stanford rowing, kept in touch with Connor’s mum Liz, offering support during a tough time for the Dawes family. For 16 months Connor’s brilliant mind and strong body gave its all to fight this terrible disease, but on April 20, 2013 Connor lost his battle. A matter of days later, the Robert Connor Dawes Foundation was born. Since then the Dawes family have been on a mission to ensure no family has to endure what theirs did.
When Liz next spoke to Craig, he was determined to support the family and their foundation. When brainstorming fundraising ideas, they discovered Craig was good friends with Chris Clarke, coach of rowing at Wisconsin. Which just so happens to be Connor’s parent’s, Liz and Scott’s, alma mater.
And so, Connor’s Erg Challenge was born. Eight years on and over $400,000 has been raised for paediatric brain cancer.
MADISON, Wis. — While it’s a little cold to get out on the water just yet, the Badger men’s and women’s rowing teams hit the gym Thursday to row, and honor one of their own lost to brain cancer by raising money to fight it.
“This more important than just rowing,” Women’s Head Coach Bebe Bryans said.
At the sound of the bell, the athletes started rowing, cheered on by their teammates and coaches — a lot more excitement than you’d normally find at the seated rowing machines.
“It’s a torture machine, actually,” Bryans joked. “It’s an ergometer actually and it’s the thing at the gym that usually nobody is on.”
But the fans on the ergometers — or “ergs” — at the Porter Boathouse were spinning fast Thursday.
“While rowing on that rowing machine is not something they’re into, this they’re into,” Men’s Head Coach Chris Clark said.
The 8th annual Connor’s Erg Challenge is a virtual, 100K rowing relay to raise funds for brain cancer research.
“We have so many people in our lives that are affected by this disease, so it’s good that we can use our platform to provide some awareness to the disease and also raise money for the cause,” senior Breck Duncan said.
Every three minutes, one athlete hopped off the machine, while the team pulled the cable to keep it moving as a new team member took position.
“The tactic is, ‘go as hard as you can and try to hold on,’” Duncan said, “this is a fly and die situation.”
The challenge’s namesake, Connor Dawes, lost his battle with brain cancer on April 20, 2013. He was a passionate rower and applied to Stanford and UW.
His mother started Connor’s Erg eight years ago, uniting a dozen U.S. colleges and universities to compete for the “Connor’s Cup.”
“She doesn’t let us forget, and it’s easy for us to forget because life moves on unless you’re reminded of things that are really important,” Bryans said.
While the challenge honors those lives lost to brain cancer every year, it hit closer to home for Wisconsin Rowing.
In January, UW-Madison Mechanical Engineering professor and rowing team alum Kris Dressler lost his battle with Glioblastoma.
“To be honest it’s really hard to be here today,” Leslie Dressler, his widow, said Thursday. “This was his boathouse. The two of us spent a fair amount of time here.”
“Also, it’s also amazing to be here for something like this because I know he believed in it, like he believed in them,” she said.
Dressler visited the teams a few months before his passing.
“[The] whole team got to meet him last year because he came to this event last year,” Bryans said, “acknowledging that chances are good he wasn’t going to be here next year, which is this year — and unfortunately, he was right.”
“It’s amazing to me that he’s actually gone,” Clark said. “And a lot of kids on our team are mechanical engineers and they’ve had Kris as a professor and they loved him.”
So on Thursday, each row in was a reminder of who’s gone, and each row out was a reminder of who they’re fighting for.
“Just a celebration of life, too,” Clark said.
“That you’re here healthy, and can do these kinds of things. And don’t take anything for granted,” he said. “And also honoring them through the one thing that bonded us all, rowing.”
Wisconsin Rowing’s goal for this year is $20,000. You can donate online here.
A Euroa seven-year-old is alive thanks to a diagnostic tool for children’s brain cancer.
Chelsea Maher, aged seven, is in remission from brain cancer. She loves horses and ponies.
For seven-year-old Chelsea, getting back to playing with her pony and being in dance classes again are top priorities. But just one year ago, she could scarcely find the energy to leave the house. She went from being a healthy and normal child to a very sick one in a matter of weeks.
Her mother Tracey Johnson credits the work of brain cancer charity the Robert Connor Dawes Foundation with saving Chelsea’s life.
“She had an MRI and underwent surgery in January last year to remove her tumour which was malignant and fast growing,” Ms Johnson said.
“The information we got back after that was very specific and critical to the treatment she was given.”
Chelsea’s doctors were swiftly told the grade-one student was suffering from a medulloblastoma tumour of the central nervous system, and mapped out her treatment.
“They had a complete DNA profile of the tumour. That would not have been possible without the RCD Foundation,” Ms Johnson said.
The Melbourne-based charity was founded nearly 10 years ago in memory of an enthusiastic Brighton Grammar student, Robert ‘Connor Dawes’, who died from brain cancer.
The foundation co-funded the advanced diagnostic tools that were used to characterise the unique molecular features of Chelsea’s tumour and related clinical trials. The diagnostic tools are part funded by government and, more recently, by the Carrie’s Beanies 4 Brain Cancer charity established by Carrie Bickmore.
Ms Johnson will be participating in a major fundraising event for the RCD foundation this weekend in her home town of Euroa, where volunteers will try to row 1000km in a local gym, towards a $50,000 goal.
The Victorian high country town is also home to the Perry family which has enthusiastically fundraised for the RCD Foundation for several years.
Dustin Perry said they did so in honour of their daughter Chloe, who died from paediatric brain cancer in 2017.
Mr Perry said Chelsea’s cancer remission was a real life example of what had been achieved through fundraising and advocacy.
“To have another little girl in our small country town being treated for brain cancer and directly benefiting from our past fundraising and advocacy has really brought home the difference that has been made,” he said.
Mr Perry, his wife Shannon, son Theo aged 11 and daughter Lilly 15, will be at the Euroa Gym on February 18 to try to help meet the 1000km rowing target.
The Perry family was involved in the event last year which raised about $45,000. The event took more than eight hours to complete and had a much shorter rowing target of only 300km.
Thank you to all of the individuals, schools, gyms and teams who used their brawn for brains! Our seventh Connor’s Erg raised over $93,000 USD ($128,000+ AUD!) for paediatric brain cancer matters, our biggest erg challenge yet.
This year we had some new teams join the challenge in Australia and the US, Genazzano FCJ College, along with Euroa Gym in Australia took their fundraising to the next level, with Fairfield and Yale in the US dipping their toes in. We were thrilled to have University of Wisconsin men and women – who has been here since inception and consistently pours their hearts and souls into this event back once again.
Traditionally Connor’s Erg is a virtual 100km erg relay challenge that started between Stanford and Wisconsin, but has expanded to gyms, individuals and high schools, with many rowing their own way.
The winners of the 2022 Connor’s Cup were:
Marist University Men’s Rowing, with a time of 4:51:17
University of Minnesota Women’s Rowing, with a time of 5:58:04.7
Congratulations to our top US fundraising team this year, the University of Michigan Women’s Rowing, who raised an incredible $6790.28 USD in their very first Connor’s Erg. These athletes developed personal “I Will” goals for the month of February to focus their training and fundraising efforts, and the results speak for themselves. UMich also had the top individual fundraiser, Kayla Ehrlich who raised an impressive $3,149.
In an incredible FUNdraising effort, Euroa Gym team the Tri-Hards raised a whopping $43,490 USD (approx $60,000 AUD). Lead by our Legacy Ambassador, Dustin Perry, the crew went above and beyond to fundraise, with huge support from the local community. Dustin was our top individual Australian fundraiser, with over $11,000 AUD raised.
Funds raised at each US university will benefit the respective universities’ neuroscience departments where applicable. The remaining money raised will benefit the RCD Foundation and its U.S. brain cancer research projects. Money raised in Australia will go towards vital research and development projects.
We’d like to give a big thanks to this year’s major event sponsors – Northwestern Mutual and Jacobus Energy.
About Connor’s Erg
Connor was determined to study and row, until brain cancer robbed him of the chance. Connor applied to Wisconsin and Stanford Universities and was invited to attend Stanford summer school the day before his brain tumour surgery.
During Connor’s treatment, Craig Amerkhanian, coach of Stanford rowing, kept in touch with Connor’s mum Liz, offering support during a tough time for the Dawes family. For 16 months Connor’s brilliant mind and strong body gave its all to fight this terrible disease, but on April 20, 2013 Connor lost his battle. A matter of days later, the Robert Connor Dawes Foundation was born. Since then the Dawes family have been on a mission to ensure no family has to endure what theirs did.
When Liz next spoke to Craig, he was determined to support the family and their foundation. When brainstorming fundraising ideas, they discovered Craig was good friends with Chris Clarke, coach of rowing at Wisconsin. Which just so happens to be Connor’s parent’s, Liz and Scott’s, alma mater.
And so, Connor’s Erg Challenge was born. Seven years on and over $300,000 has been raised for paediatric brain cancer.
Thank you to all of the individuals and teams who used their brawn for brains, Connor’s Erg raised over $60,000 USD ($78,000+ AUD!) for paediatric brain cancer matters.
It was a challenging year, with many US schools affected by COVID, with a number of student athletes unable to train together or be on campus. Despite the circumstances, six rowing teams from Australia and the US participated, along with a number of individuals.
The 2021 theme was ‘row your way any day‘ and we were blown away by the fundraising efforts!
University of Wisconsin Men’s and Women’s Rowing teams kept the tradition alive, having participated in all six years of Connor’s Erg. The men’s team were our fundraising champs, raising over $5000 (USD). Followed by Colgate Women’s Rowing, University of Minnesota Women’s Rowing, and University of Wisconsin Women’s Rowing.
Haileybury and Firbank Grammar were our top Aussie fundraisers.
Our very own Liz Dawes was our top individual fundraiser raising over $1500 USD, with Carson McFarland from Wisconsin close behind on $1149 USD.
Funds raised at each US university will benefit the respective universities’ neuroscience departments. The remaining money raised will benefit the RCD Foundation and its U.S. brain cancer research projects.
We’d like to give a big thanks to this year’s major event sponsors – Northwestern Mutual and Jacobus Energy.
We will be back bigger and better than ever before next year for our seventh Connor’s Erg. Stay tuned!
On February 13th, 2019 five of the top rowing universities in the US competed in a 100km virtual erg rowing challenge for pediatric brain cancer research.
The fourth annual Connor’s Erg was the biggest yet – raising over $70,000 (USD) for brain matters.
What started out as a 100km erg challenge between UW-Madison and Stanford, expanded to three other teams this year to include, MIT, Syracuse and Princeton. This expansion is partly due to Aussie rowers attending these schools and spreading the word about the cause.
Alexander Douglas is one such Aussie, a senior member of the Syracuse Crew team, he says the event makes all the workouts worth it.
“We have a real opportunity here and I think it’s really important for us to try to give back and to help those who can’t go out and row and compete in these sports. They are just trying to get healthy,” Douglas said.
Following a stellar high school rowing career in Australia, Connor was determined to attend and row for Wisconsin or Stanford until he was robbed of the chance.
“Connor’s Erg Challenge serves as a way to honor Connor’s passion for rowing while raising needed funds for brain cancer research,” said Liz Dawes.
Brain cancer kills more children than any other disease in both the US and Australia and given Connor’s Australian American heritage, the foundation found it only fitting to link the two countries to make the most of research initiatives for patients.
Connor’s Erg has raised a total of $120,000 for pediatric brain cancer research to date.
Of the money raised this year, a $25,000 research grant will go directly to the Monje Lab at Stanford, thanks to Northwestern Mutual sponsorship, in partnership with Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.
“Support from events like Connor’s Erg Challenge helps to spur innovative research, because that kind of flexible funding provides brain tumor scientists with the ability to test new hypotheses and go in new scientific directions,” said Michelle Monje, a preeminent pediatric brain cancer researcher and associate professor of neurology at Stanford.
The Wisconsin rowing team had previously been undefeated the last three years, however this year Princeton women and Syracuse men took home the Connor Cup.
Wisconsin did however top the schools in fundraising, with over $8,000 raised.
Funds raised at each school will benefit the respective universities’ neuroscience departments. The remaining money raised will benefit the RCD Foundation and its U.S. brain cancer research projects.
We’d like to give a big thanks to this year’s major event sponsors – Northwestern Mutual and Jacobus Energy.
Badgers rowers participate in Connor’s Erg Challenge to raise awareness for brain cancer