It gives life a purpose. See, the thing about rowing is you set a goal. Let's line up all these people around the world and have them try to achieve the single distance of 2000m. All these people waste their entire life for this goal and ultimately upon that one moment, and in that one moment the person who wasted the most amount of time training and committed themselves wholey to this large endeavor will achieve that greatness.

Rob Gibson 2012 CAN M8+