FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
High Five! Champion
Juggling Runner Michal Kapral to Attempt 5-Ball ‘Joggling’ Marathon Guinness
World Record in Toronto
Kapral to race
Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon juggling 5 beanbags – and chewing gum
– to raise funds for SickKids Foundation
TORONTO – Ten years after smashing the current Guinness World Record
for fastest marathon while juggling three objects in 2 hours 50 minutes,
Toronto’s Michal “The Joggler” Kapral plans to run and juggle his way to a new
record, this time keeping five beanbags in the air every
step of the 2017 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on October 22.
Kapral,
45, a writer at Health Quality Ontario in Toronto, has completed eight three-ball
marathons while “joggling” – the sport that combines running (or jogging) and
juggling – including the 2016 Chicago Marathon, which he finished without
dropping a ball once in 2 hours 55 minutes.
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| Michal Kapral works on his five-ball joggling at the Toronto Beach |
This will
be Kapral’s first attempt at a five-ball joggling marathon, and the first time
anyone has officially tried to set the Guinness World Record for running an entire 42.2km race while juggling five
balls. The only other reported complete five-ball joggling marathon was by the late Billy
Gillen of Brooklyn, N.Y., who was rumoured to have joggled the entire 1988 New York City
Marathon in 7 hours 7 minutes. Barry Goldmeier of Rockville, Maryland has also joggled five beanbags during marathons, but doesn't juggle the entire way.
Guinness World
Records has set a time of 4 hours 40 minutes to establish an official record. An
adjudicator will be at the race to verify the record attempt on the spot. Kapral
will aim for the 4:40 mark, but has a secondary goal of surpassing Gillen's reported time of
7:07.
“This is
by far the most difficult world record I’ve ever attempted,” says Kapral, who
also holds Guinness World Records for the fastest half-marathon (1:20:40) and 10K (36:27) while
juggling three objects, and previously held the record for fastest marathon
pushing a stroller. “Juggling five balls standing still is about 10 times
harder than three. Keeping that five-ball pattern flying in the air while
running a marathon is just completely nuts. It feels like you’re running two
marathons at once – one with your arms and one with your legs.”
Kapral
expects to stop or drop several hundred times during the marathon, and has
enlisted American joggling rival and friend Zach Warren to run behind him (without
juggling) to act as a spotter, and to ensure the safety of the other runners. Despite
having to look up at an angle, Kapral is able to see ahead of him while running
and juggling with five beanbags. Guinness World Records rules stipulate that if
Kapral drops a ball, he must return behind the drop point before restarting. He
can stop at aid stations to drink or eat, but must be juggling every step of the way forward.
As he did
while setting the 2007 world record while joggling three balls, Kapral will
chew gum during the entire five-ball joggling marathon. “People always ask me, ‘Can
you also chew gum while you do that?’” Kapral says. “The answer is yes! I’ll be chewing Stride gum
the whole way!”
Kapral is
raising donations for SickKids Foundation as part of the record attempt, to
support patient care, research and equipment at The Hospital for Sick Children
in Toronto, where Kapral received treatment for severe asthma as a child, and where he and his wife Dianne's daughter Annika received care for a heart condition when she was born. Secure donations can be made through this link: https://www.sickkidsdonations.com/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?registrationID=3952455&langPref=en-CA.
In another
world first, Kapral has likely become the first runner to secure an official
cinnamon bun sponsor. Rosen’s
Cinnamon Buns, founded by cookbook author Amy Rosen, has endorsed the marathon
record attempt.
“These
delectable treats fuelled some of my long training runs,” says Kapral, “so having
Rosen’s support for this record attempt is just the icing on the bun.”
Kapral
chronicles his joggling experiences on his blog, The Bloggling Joggler,
at http://www.thejoggler.blogspot.com.
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For high-resolution images, or for more information,
please contact Michal Kapral at joggler1@gmail.com,
or @mkapral on Twitter.
