Steel City Ruck Club – Ruck Club Spotlight

Name: Steel City Ruck Club

Ruck Club Size:

There are about 731 members of our private Facebook group, but we probably have close to 100 members who actively come out to train together.

When/How/Why did Steel City Ruck Club start?

Our club was founded not long after GORUCK started hosting events. A hard-charging group really made a name for Pittsburgh being a tough group of GRTs and showed cadre the Steel City is an amazing place to host events.

Around 2017, a lot of the original members fell away because of injury and life, and handed the reins over to me (Kristi Devenyi). I chose Caitlin Eiben to help me lead because we were already friends, work well together in events, and are on the same wavelength for how to get things done.

What sort of activities does the Steel City Ruck Club do?

Our club activities run the gamut! We allow any member to set up events that they want to see happen. Whether it’s someone wants to take their dog for a walk or get their kids outside, train for their first Basic or complete an HTB or Team Assessment, we schedule something that fits that need, and these are all well attended.

Some of the more memorable club events have been our charity bar crawls (10 miles, 10 bars, thousands raised), 8 hours of coupon hill repeats, Color Park clean-ups/graffiti sessions, the Reaper workout, mountain rucks on the Rachel Carson Trail, and the infamous Chumbawumba ruck.

What do you think is the key to having a great Ruck Club?

I think the key to a great ruck club is meeting people’s basic need for community and fitness, coming together to support each others’ goals and encouraging one another to push past what we believe we are capable of accomplishing.

Anything else you want to share that would be of interest to readers?

Our club understands the importance of balancing the miserable, event-simulating rucks with the fun, laid-back rucks. Similar to Yinzers across the nation, we have a lot of Pittsburgh pride and are the self-appointed #bestruckclubever.