The Filippo Mondelli Challenge

The Italian rowing community invites the world to enter their virtual rowing competition in memory of Filippo Mondelli to raise awareness and money for cancer research.

One year after the passing of the World Rowing Champion Filippo Mondelli on 29 April 2021, the Italian rowing community are organising the “Filippo Mondelli Challenge”. Taking place from 24 to 29 April 2022, the challenge is an online indoor rowing competition, where participants submit their 500mtime. All funds from the challenge will be donated to the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute in Bologna for cancer research.

Spearheaded by the Italian Police Force’s sports team, Fiamme Gialle, the non-profit organisation Beat it Indoor Rowing Onlus, and under the patronage of the Italian Rowing Federation with help from Concept2 Italia, the large outpouring of support is a testament to the legacy of Filippo Mondelli’s impact on the sport of rowing.

Filippo Mondelli competed at the highest level. In 2018, Mondelli became World Champion in Plovdiv in the men’s quadruple sculls, the first time Italy achieved this in two decades. He also helped Italy qualify this boat class for the Tokyo Olympic Games at the World Rowing Championships 2019, before being diagnosed and passing away from a rare form of bone cancer on 29 April 2021, at the age of just 26. His friends and family describe him as a gentle giant, and a true and loyal person. The last major recognition Mondelli received from all of Italian sport was on April 13 2021, when he was elected a member of the National Council for the Italian Olympic Committee, receiving the most votes out of all the candidates.

The Filippo Mondelli Challenge charity race is open to everyone, anywhere, whether elite or novice, from the Under 12s up to the over 80s, and will consist of a 500m erg sprint. Anyone with access to a Concept2 rowing machine will be able to participate. A range of categories are catered for, including PR1, PR2, PR3, PR3 II, with a diploma awarded for the top three finishers of each category, with any world records also validated by Concept2. The rankings will be published based on the times submitted.

As an additional incentive, all participants will also enter into a raffle, with a chance to win one of three prizes: a chance to row with Tokyo Olympic Champion Valentina Rodini, Olympic Medallists Matteo Lodo or Olympic Medallists Giuseppe Vicino.

Race information

To register, please click on following link and fill in the form by midnight on 23 April 2022.

The registration fee is a minimum donation of €10 which can either be provided via bank transfer or via card/PayPal:

Bank transfer

To: BEAT IT INDOOR ROWING

IBAN:IT89L0873501600049000490934

BIC: ICRAITRRFK0

PayPal

The PayPal donation link can be accessed here.

To confirm registration, please send the receipt of the money transfer to the email address: iosonofilippo2022@gmail.com.

Submitting a result

Between the 24 to 29 April 2022, within that six-day window, participants have to perform the rowing test and enter results by following link and sending a photo of the monitor to the email address iosonofilippo2022@gmail.com.

For lightweights, please also show evidence of your weight on a scale when submitting your result (max 75kg for men, 61.5kg for women).

Results

At the end of the competition the results will be published on the following websites: www.fiammegialle.org, www.canottaggio.org, www.worldrowing.com and www.concept2.it.

For any further queries, please contact iosonofilippo2022@gmail.com.