Lewiston, ME, tragically lost 18 people in a deadly shooting last year, leaving loved ones and an entire community heartbroken. 

Rachel Nutting, the owner of CrossFit 196, has taken it upon herself to create and host a memorial WOD to remember the victims of the tragic mass shooting. 

Credit: Rachel Nutting

Remind Me 

In October 2023, Robert Card carried out a dual shooting in a bar and bowling alley. Eighteen people were killed, and more than a dozen were left injured in the attacks. 

Card was later found dead due to self-inflicted injuries following a manhunt. 

Since then, survivors and victims of the shooting have threatened to sue the Department of Defense, the Army, and the Keller Army Community Hospital over allegations of negligence. 

One of the victims was Nutting’s neighbor, which was one of the reasons she wanted to host an event at her gym. Though none of the victims were members, the community is small and well-connected. Four of the victims who died were deaf, including Nutting’s neighbor. 

“We, as a community, I think we really took it as an opportunity for us to learn how to grieve together and process grief,” Nutting told Morning Chalk Up in an interview. 

Last year, Nutting created individual memorial workouts for each victim of the shooting. For the memorial WOD this year, Nutting created one workout to represent all of the victims.

A fellow coach is a psychotherapist and has been working directly with some of the survivors of the shooting, adds Nutting. Specifically, they have been working with the Maine Resiliency Center, which was established in the wake of the shooting. 

Event Details 

The memorial WOD is taking place on October 25 at CrossFit 196. Here are the details:

 “Everyone must give a little, and some may give much more than others,” Nutting said. “The two machines are to represent the two locations. There will be two scores: one for the community (time) and an individual score (AMRAP).”

The event’s goal is to raise funds for a scholarship program that supports the surviving victims or family members attending the gym to practice trauma-informed movement “with hopes of matriculating them into the CrossFit community so they have more support and tools.” 

“It’s really about memorializing, and to shine a light on the fact that this has happened and people have to get through it. If it happened here, it could happen anywhere,” Nutting said. 

Another future goal she has is to make posters for each of the individual memorial WODs and generate scholarship funds from the sales of those posters.

Learn more about CrossFit 196 and the work Rachel Nutting is doing here. 

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Featured image: Rachel Nutting

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