Murder of Crows // Brooklyn
Memorial Day Murph 2026 — What to Beat
Murder of Crows Brooklyn
Period of Record
2018 — 2025
A Murder of Murphs
Eight Years · One Workout · A Lot of Push-ups
92 Rx Finishers · 7 Memorial Days · Murph 2026 in 2 Days
RX Finishes
92total
Men + Women, vested & bare
Memorial Days
7/ 8
2020 was, well, 2020
Fastest Ever
35:05
M. Chan, 2025, no vest
Reps Punished
55,200
+ 184 miles run
01 // The Workout

One Mile. One Hundred. Two Hundred. Three Hundred. One Mile.

As Rx’d

The Murph — Rx

1 miRunno skipping the warm-up
100Pull-upspartition as needed
200Push-upschest to deck
300Air squatsbelow parallel
1 miRunif you can still walk
20
WEIGHTED VEST 20 lb men / 14 lb women. No vest = not truly Rx, but we’ll let it slide. (We won’t.)
“Partitioned” / “Cindy style” = 20 rounds of 5–10–15. “Straight through” = you, an exceptionally bad decision-maker, and the kind of person we’d like more of.
In Honor Of
Lt. Michael P. Murphy
U.S. Navy SEAL · 1976 — 2005

“Murph” was his favorite workout. He died June 28, 2005 in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, leaving cover to call in his team. Posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

Every Memorial Day, we sweat a fraction of what he gave.

Medal of Honor · Operation Red Wings
02 // The Records

Two Classes. Four Crowns.

Rx, all-time, across 7 Murphs
MEN · 20 lb VEST

Men’s Weighted

With the burden — as Lt. Murphy intended
02
David Berlin
39:32
’21
01
David Berlin
36:37
’22 · gym record
03
David Berlin
40:20
’19
David Berlin owns all three of these times. One man, one vest, six straight Memorial Days. The closest non-Berlin weighted Rx is Gus David at 40:44 — still behind Berlin’s third-best.
MEN · NO VEST

Men’s Unweighted

Bare-shouldered · pure speed
02
Marco Chan
36:06
’23
01
Marco Chan
35:05
’25 · gym record
03
Dez Stavracos
36:15
’25
Marco Chan is not a person, he is a weather event. Two of the three fastest no-vest Murphs ever recorded here. The other one finished seventy seconds slower. Bring a vest next year, Marco.
WOMEN · 14 lb VEST

Women’s Weighted

The rarest finish on the leaderboard
02
Shaina Rotter
52:13
’23
01
Shaina Rotter
49:45
’24 · gym record
03
Carla Kelly
54:51
’18
Shaina Rotter takes 1 and 2. She got faster wearing the vest year over year. The only sub-50 women’s vested time on record. Carla Kelly held it down as the original 2018 vested heroine.
WOMEN · NO VEST

Women’s Unweighted

Pure speed, no apologies
02
Rocio Martinez
42:50
’25
01
Shaina Rotter
42:06
’21 · gym record
03
Shaina Rotter
43:00
’18
Shaina set the record in 2021 and nobody has touched it in four years. She also owns 3rd place. Rocio Martinez crashed the party in 2025 with a 42:50 debut. The chase is on.
The Standing Anomaly
The David Berlin Empire
A vested clean sweep across three different years. While the rest of the field rotates in and out, Berlin shows up, straps in 20 lb, and posts a time. Every. Single. Year. The 2022 PR (36:37) would have been the all-time men’s gym record — vest or no vest — in any year except 2025.
1st · 2022
36:37
20 lb · PR
2nd · 2021
39:32
20 lb vest
3rd · 2019
40:20
20 lb vest

Men’s Overall Record — The Slow March Toward 35

Fastest Rx (vest or no vest) each year · 5 record breaks in 7 attempts
’18
37:53
S. Trayner
’19
39:06
B. Lingle
’21
37:50
J. Stenseth
’22
36:37
D. Berlin · vest
’23
36:06
M. Chan
’25
35:05
M. Chan
03 // The Standouts

Gym Legends

By appearances, by records, by reputation
VESTED · 6x
David Berlin running with weighted vest
Iron General
David Berlin
6/ 7 years
’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
No-vest in 2018, then strapped in 20 lb and never took it off. Owns all three weighted podium spots. Never left.
SPEED · 35:05
Marco Chan
Speed Merchant
Marco Chan
35:05all-time
’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Two appearances, two of the three fastest Murphs in gym history. Closest non-Marco no-vest time is 70 seconds back.
RELIABLE · 6x
Mike Brouwers
Old Reliable
Mike Brouwers
6/ 7 years
’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Missed 2018, hasn’t since. Earned the vest in ’23 and kept it. 2025 caption: “Straight through.”
QUEEN · 5x
Shaina Rotter
Murph Royalty
Shaina Rotter
5/ 7 years
’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Holds both women’s gym records — 42:06 no vest, 49:45 with. Won the women’s field in three different years.
04 // Attendance

The Crowd Each Memorial Day

All categories · Rx + Scaled
’18
~25
Total
’19
51
peak
’21
26
Total
’22
18
Total
’23
~30
Total
’24
30
Total
Men Women 2019 was the peak. We will reclaim that summit.
0
The Women’s Rx Drought of 2022
Eight Rx men. Zero Rx women. Whether it was the weather, the calendar, or a coordinated rebellion, nobody on the women’s side wore the vest that day. We don’t talk about it much. We never forget.
’22NEVER AGAIN
05 // The Superlatives

Awards You Can’t Buy

As determined by the coaches
CERT · 2023
★
Dad Mode Engaged
Terry Rice · 48:48
Caption: “With 20 lb vest & my 4 kids” — finished sub-50. Four kids. Twenty pounds. Two miles. Three hundred squats. Father of the year.
CERT · 2022
★
Excuse of the Decade
Thomas O’Brien · 40:52
Caption: “No vest — pulled calf.” Ran two miles on a pulled calf and still beat half the field. Whatever a pulled calf is, we’d like ours to do that.
CERT · 2018
★
Rawest Post-Murph Caption
Brendan O’Boyle · 65:30
“Can’t believe I did that.” — Brendan, neither can we. Welcome to the club. There’s ice in the freezer and a chair with your name on it.
REDACTED · 2021
!
Quote That Got Bleeped
David Johnson · 50:40
Caption began: “20# vest, F%^{ing push…” and frankly, no further context required. We’ve all been there around rep 147.
CERT · 2025
★
The First-Times Club
Shmaya Grossbaum · Juriy Zaytsev
Two firsts, both promotions. Shmaya: “First time not scaled!” 50:38 — crossed into Rx. Juriy: “First time unpartitioned.” 50:18 — 100/200/300 straight through, no Cindy rounds. Harder than Rx, and he knows it.
CERT · 2021
★
Caption of the Year
Will Hadjigeorgalis · 57:12
“No vest, but first time Rx!” Reader, this is what coaches live for. Pure joy. The kind of caption you screenshot and put on the fridge.
06 // The Ledger

What 92 Rx Finishers Add Up To

Cumulative damage report
9,200
Pull-ups
~100 ea.
18,400
Push-ups
where wrists retire
27,600
Air Squats
your knees are owed a beer
184
Miles Run
most with weight on

Estimates calculated by a coach with a calculator and a chip on his shoulder. Add 50% if you count the scaled crew. Either way: that’s a lot of crows in the rafters.