Canadian Smashes Two Joggling World Records in Maldives

The Maldives joggling extravaganza blew away all my expectations. I'll write about it soon. Until then, here's a news release about the two new joggling world records I set during the trip.

Canadian Smashes Two Joggling World Records in Maldives

Michal “The Joggler” Kapral of Toronto runs first-ever 10km while juggling 4 objects, then destroys Guinness World Record for most consecutive stairs climbed while juggling 3 objects

MALÉ, MALDIVES – Oct. 16, 2019 – Canadian Guinness World Record holder Michal “The Joggler” Kapral of Toronto became the first person to run a road race while simultaneously juggling 4 balls, setting a new world record (and Guinness World Record, pending ratification) of 55 minutes, 48 seconds at the RunInAddu race on Oct. 5 in Addu, Maldives, the country’s southernmost atoll, along a scenic course bordered by white sand beaches and azure Indian Ocean waters.

Crossing the finish for the 4-ball joggling world record of 55:48.

“It was a dream destination race along a beautiful paved road and a fast, flat course,” says Kapral. “I couldn’t think of a better place to break a new joggling record. The 4-ball joggling pattern took laser-focus to maintain at sub-1-hour 10K pace. It was almost 20 minutes slower than my 3-ball joggling 10K Guinness World Record of 36:27, and took every ounce of my endurance and concentration. I was near exhaustion at about 8km, but pushed on – and wow, was I glad to see all the smiling faces at the finish line. It was totally worth the effort.”

Six days later, Kapral broke another world record in the Maldives capital of Malé, this time a Guinness World Record for most consecutive stairs climbed while juggling 3 objects. The event took place on the central staircase in Sultan Park, the lush garden next to the 16^th-century former palace of the sultan of Maldives. Kapral ran up and down 2,544 stairs (the single flight was 16 stairs) while juggling 3 beanbags without a drop, climbing past the height of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and nearly 1.5 times the number of stairs up the CN Tower in Toronto. Guinness World Records rules required Kapral to run while juggling both up and down the stairs without stopping or dropping a ball, and only the “up” counted toward the record. 

Kapral climbed more than four times higher than the previous world record of 600 stairs. He dropped a ball while turning around at the top of the staircase after running and juggling up 159 flights and after nearly 45 minutes. It’s interesting to note that the Maldives is the world’s lowest country at an average elevation of about 1.5 metres. Maldives tourism minister Ali Waheed attended the stair climb record event, along with other tourism representatives. 

Guinness World Record for consecutive stairs climbed while juggling 

Kapral set the two world records in the ]sport of joggling – jogging while juggling – as part of a new campaign initiative by the Maldives Tourism Board to attract running and sports tourists to the country. Both events were organized by Total Fitness Group, and the RunInAddu also featured a marathon, half-marathon, 5K, and a kids’ 2km run, which Kapral led along with wife Dianne and daughters Annika and Lauryn. The events were sponsored by Heritance Aarah Maldives, Adaaran Maldives, Meeru Island Resort and Kaimoo Maldives. Both record attempts were broadcast live nationally on Maldivian public TV. 

With the emergence of guesthouses and a wider range of travel options, and several marathons and other running races taking place across the country, as well as other sports events, Maldives hopes Kapral’s records will raise awareness for the Maldives as an emerging running and sports destination for travellers from Canada and the U.S. who are looking for new experiences on their journeys. Just over 9,500 tourists from Canada visited Maldives in 2018, a 6% increase over the previous year, and nearly 43,000 tourists from the U.S. visited the country in 2018, up 9.5% from 2017.

Kapral currently holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon while juggling 3 objects in 2 hours, 50 minutes and 12 seconds, along with several other joggling records. He is planning one more Guinness World Record attempt this year, this time for fastest half-marathon skipping without a rope, at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on Oct. 20. It will be his first non-joggling record since he broke the record for fastest marathon pushing a baby in a stroller with daughter Annika at the Toronto Waterfront event in 2004. For that record, Kapral is raising funds in the charity challenge for Giant Steps Toronto for kids with autism. 

Stepping It Up for a Joggling Stair-Climb Guinness World Record in Maldives

Michal Kapral training in Toronto for the joggling stair-climb world record (Photo: Lauryn Kapral)

Life is full of ups and downs, but only the ups will count towards my latest Guinness World Record attempt for most consecutive stairs climbed while juggling without a drop. On Oct. 11, 2019, in Malé, Maldives, I'll be rising to the challenge in the world's flattest country, running and juggling up the equivalent number of steps of the world's tallest tower. The record attempt will take place six days after my Oct. 5 attempt to become the first person to race a 10K while joggling five balls.

Here's a news release:

Juggling Marathon Runner Steps It Up with New Guinness World Record Attempt for Juggling Stair Climb in Maldives, the World’s Flattest Country

TORONTO – September 13, 2019 – Michal “The Joggler” Kapral of Toronto, Canada, will be juggling three beanbags one toss and step at a time in Malé, Maldives, on October 11, 2019, as he attempts to run to a Guinness World Record for most consecutive stairs climbed while juggling three objects without a drop.

Kapral, 47, who owns several world records in the sport of joggling – running while juggling – including the fastest marathon while juggling three objects in 2 hours 50 minutes and 12 seconds, will rise to the world-record stair-climb challenge as part of a campaign to promote the destination for the Maldives Tourism Board.

“I’m super excited to smash this Guinness World Record with the world’s most stunning vacation destination as a backdrop,” says Kapral. “Maldives bills itself as ‘the sunny side of life’ and that’s exactly how I view running while juggling. It makes people smile and laugh. I’m looking forward to putting on a good show, running and juggling to new heights in the flattest country on Earth.”

This will be Kapral’s first attempt at a juggling stair-climbing record. The Guinness World Records rules state that he must juggle continuously throughout the attempt – and a dropped ball means the record attempt is over. He can juggle while running up and down a flight of stairs, but only the “up” stairs count towards the record.  

Malé, Maldives (Photo: Timo Newton-Syms)

Kapral will climb up and down a short flight of 10-20 outdoor stairs in the Maldivian capital city of Malé. He plans to reach at least 1,776 stairs, the equivalent of running up and down the staircase of the CN Tower in his hometown of Toronto, which until recently was the world’s tallest freestanding structure. If he surpasses the CNTower height, Kapral will keep climbing and juggling his way past 2,909 steps, the number of stairs to the top level of the 828-meter Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai, the world’s tallest building.  

There is no current record listed but Guinness World Records has set a minimum of 600 stairs to achieve the new record. In 2012, American Pete Moyer reportedly climbed 530 stairs at a hotel while juggling three beanbags. “I trained for this, but it hardly helped,” Moyer said after the climb. “It's extremely hard to breathe. If you want a good example, have someone strangle you while you walk your dog.” Kapral hopes to have a much more enjoyable experience juggling up the outdoor staircase in the fresh air of the azure paradise of Maldives. 

Joggler Out: Spinning My 5-Ball Joggling Marathon Fail as a Success

I'm just going to throw this out there: Sometimes when you set ridiculously challenging goals for yourself, you will fail. That's exactly what happened to me at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon last Sunday. My goal was to set a new Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon while joggling five objects.

There was no current record, but the Guinness records-keepers decided through some calculus that 4 hours 40 minutes was the time to beat. This doesn't sound very quick, but here's the thing: running while simultaneously juggling five balls is exceedingly difficult. To a non-joggler, I might put it like this: joggling a marathon with three balls is like running a regular marathon, while joggling a marathon with five balls is like running a marathon hopping on your left foot only for the entire 42.2km. It's exponentially harder the further the distance.

422 drops to glory?

Leading up the race, my training had gone quite well. I practiced running 100m, 200m intervals joggling five balls, and worked my way up to being able to do some 400m joggles around the U of T Varsity track without dropping. But my average drop rate was still around every 100m, which is 422 drops for the marathon. I still thought it might be manageable, but knew based on timing my 100m joggles that a 4:40 marathon would be almost impossible.

Lucky for me, I had a chance do some training with five-ball joggling record-holder Matt Feldman, who is incredibly quick at the 400m, mile and 5K.



I also had lunch with five-ball joggling legend Barry Goldmeier, who regularly runs large portions of marathons while juggling five beanbags.

The week before the race, CTV News and CP24 ran stories about the record attempt.

I still can't stop laughing at the fact that I secured a sponsorship from the best cinnamon bun shop in Toronto. Thank you, Rosen's Cinnamon Buns for supporting my joggling dreams. A huge thank-you as well to Cheryl Sayers from Sport Juggling Company for the amazing Sportball beanbags.

Joggling jitters

Zach arrived from D.C. on Friday and we toured Toronto riding BikeShare bikes on Saturday, which was probably not the best thing to do the day before trying to set a world record. I hadn't seen Zach in 10 years, when we raced each other at the 2007 Salt Lake City Marathon. I discovered that he's still one of the greatest people you could ever meet.



Zach has worked as a circus performer, and is an expert juggler. The night before the marathon, we went out to practice some joggling to see how close he should follow during the race. Zach tried five-ball joggling and actually had some trouble with it. I realized that all my training had actually worked. I had developed a new skill (perhaps not the most useful skill in the world, but still...).

Race day. My nerves were joggling big-time, since I still didn't know if this record was even possible. It was very difficult to tell during my training how the race would play out, since I trained on a track, or on an empty stretch of road in my neighbourhood. Zach and I lined up in the slowest corral for marathon finish times of 4:30 and slower. I decided to start near the front of this group, thinking if I got a good clean start, I could stay up front in the clear and avoid the crowds. But just before the horn sounded for our corral's start, a bunch of runners shimmied in front of me and Zach, and I suddenly found myself squished in a large crowd.

I was immediately in a panic, trying to maintain the high tosses of the five-ball juggling pattern. I dropped several times right near the beginning, and scrambled to regroup right away so I didn't interfere with the runners behind me. This caused me to drop even more. I was exhausted almost right from the gun, and it just got worse from there. On the bright side, the spectators were loving it, and Zach shouted encouraging words to pull me out of my panicked state. It was still crowded up until about 3km, but by the time I had slowed enough to have some space to juggle, my energy was sapped. I felt like I had already run a marathon. I should've started at the very back and not worried about trying to run 4:40, but it was too late.

Give me a hand

My hand injury turned out to be a muscle tear.

In my frenzy, I somehow managed to injure my left hand, which began to hurt more and more with each toss. I hit 5K in 46 minutes, already 13 minutes behind schedule. Zach told me, based on my stride length and toss rate, that I would be making 130,000 tosses and catches for the marathon. It's going to be a long day, I thought. The next 5K took me 56 minutes. My hand was now in serious trouble, shooting pain up my forearm with each toss and catch. By the 13K turnaround on Lake Shore, I had entered survival mode. "We're going to finish this," Zach said. "My flight doesn't leave until tomorrow."

Close to my break point at about 15K, the race film crew showed up. Wonderful, I thought. Everyone can watch me fall apart. And they did. As I inched forward a few steps at a time, the camera crew remained. I thought about all the people who had donated to SickKids Foundation, I thought about the sick kids, and I thought about how lucky I was to be out there doing this.



The commentary on the race video is priceless. Canadian Running editor-in-chief Michael Doyle says it looks like a slow form of torture, and he was right!



Things were not going well at all.

I thought I could just will myself through the rest of the race, even if it took 15 or 20 hours. But just before the 17K marker, I knew my hand was too damaged to go on. I got the five-ball pattern going, joggled to the 17K sign, caught the balls, turned to Zach behind me, and declared, "Joggler out." At this point, we were in last place in the entire race of 18,000 people, followed by a line of police cars.

Zach said we should continue to run the rest of the marathon without juggling, and I agreed, though I secretly planned to bail at the half. A couple of kilometres later, we ran past three mounted police officers. Zach ran over to them and, employing his deft social skills from a decade of living and working in Afghanistan, he convinced them to gallop behind me on a final joggle. It was quite the scene. I ended up joggling at a good clip, as the clack of the hooves sounded altogether too close behind me.



Regular running

We continued on. Near the halfway point, we ran into my parents, my sister, Moira, and my niece, Kate. My mom reminded us that the course had a time limit of 6 hours. "A sub-2 half? We can do that!" Zach said, cheerfully. I put on my best smiley face, and off we went for another half marathon. We shared some good laughs with the walkers, and were ever grateful for the volunteers who remained at the scene to offer Gatorade and water to last runners and walkers. My entire body felt like it was falling apart, but somehow I found the strength to keep running. Zach hadn't run a marathon since our 2007 joggling duel in Salt Lake, and recently had back surgery, so he wasn't doing so well himself. But we chatted and laughed and joked our way through the rest of it.

I juggled for the last few metres across the finish line. Two of my beanbags hit the timing clock above the finish and thumped to the ground on the finish line. Seemed appropriate that these extra two balls fell at the end.

Post-joggle

Joggling five balls every step of the way over long distances is very hard. Ludicrous, really. I knew this challenge had a good chance of failure. But I emerged from the experience with an odd sense of excitement. I tried. I gave it everything. I juggled to the last catch possible.

I had the privilege of running with Zach Warren for 5 hours and 40 minutes, a great way to catch up with a friend after 10 years. I got to see my wife Dianne and kids, Annika and Lauryn at the end. Lots of people donated to SickKids, raising nearly $2,000. Zach and I posted a negative split of 1 hour 56 minutes and 31 seconds, possibly the largest negative split ever in a marathon. I joggled five balls of the race for 17K, which is likely the furthest anyone has gone for every step, returning behind the drop point after each drop. Zach and I had a chance to experience what it's like to be in last place in an IAAF Gold Label marathon. We met so many amazing people along the route. I got to joggle with a mounted police escort.

There was some pretty entertaining media coverage after the race, from Canadian Running, Men's Journal, Sky Sports, and the Toronto Star. The Twitter Moment for it was even shared around the world by Twitter Moments and Twitter Sports.

⚡️ “Toronto man tries to run entire marathon juggling 5 balls”https://t.co/2JQ4QHRLaH

— Michal Kapral (@mkapral) October 26, 2017

As joggler Bob Evans said to me on Facebook after the race, "There is no story without conflict. Your 5-ball marathon quest just got a lot more compelling. Keep going!" In this case, I battled the record, and the record won. This was captured perfectly in this screenshot of race video of me looking like a dejected gorilla.

Joggler out, but not down.

NEWS RELEASE: High Five! Juggling Runner Michal Kapral to Attempt 5-Ball Joggling Marathon Guinness World Record in Toronto

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.

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.

Swuggling Video by Joe Salter

Swuggler, joggler and cycluggler (or buggler? – no, that sounds bad) Joe Salter is training to become the first person to juggle his way through a triathlon. Check out his swuggling training in a pool (with tricks!).

Peter Bone: 11 balls, 18 catches!

Seven-ball juggling

My wife and I joined a gym, and after my running and strength training workout, I always do into the exercise room with high ceilings to do some juggling. The other day I finally qualified seven balls, with a run of 14 near-perfect tosses. Pure magic.

I've done a bit of joggling here and there, just to keep my chops up, but mostly it's just been plain old running.

Joggling for dummies

This post is for all the millions of you out there who want to learn how to joggle but don't know where to start. Here are some tips:

1. I'm going to assume that you already know how to run ... or jog.
2. Now get yourself some nice juggling beanbags. I use Sportballs, Perry uses Gballz and Zach I think uses Higgins Brothers.
3. Learn how to juggling the three-ball cascade. Click HERE for a great tutorial.
4. It's time to put the two components together. This sport is not like the triathlon, where to get to do your sports separately; the joggler needs to seamlessly mesh together the sports of running and juggling.
5. Find a nice clear path outside. Start out by juggling your cascade, then walk forward for a while to get the feel of forward motion while you juggle. Concentrate on keeping the juggling pattern nice and even, as it you were standing still.
6. OK, you're ready to joggle. Start up your cascade, then break into a slow jog. Each time you toss a ball with your left hand, match it to the right-leg stride, and vice-versa.
7. When you run, the right arm will automatically swing forward as you stride with your left leg. You need to match your joggling tosses with this natural arm swing.
8. The height of your tosses is determined by the speed of your running. The faster you run, the lower the toss. This is because as you run faster, your arms pump at a faster rate.
9. Take care not to toss the balls too far forward. I made this mistake when I was first learning how to joggle. If your biceps start to burn after a short joggle, you're probably tossing too far forward. The beanbags should only be about half a foot in front of your nose.
10. When you're juggling while standing still, your elbows are stable at your sides, but for joggling your elbows swing forward and back with the running motion. To accommodate this arm swing and increase running efficiency, you need to carry the ball back with you on the backswing, then release it as your arm shovels forward. Toss each beanbag just before your opposite foot strikes the ground.
11. Try to avoid any excessive trunk sway and maintain normal running form. When I watched Zach pull ahead of me in the Boston Marathon last year, I could barely tell he was joggling. If it weren't for the telltale yellow beanbags popping up over his shoulders, I could swear he was a regular runner.
12. When you're joggling, you should focus on the road or path ahead of you, not the beanbags. As long as you have them in your line of sight, you'll know where to catch them, but your eyes should focus on where you're going. Otherwise you'll run into a pole or a ditch or other runners or a water buffalo (depending on where you're joggling).
13. That's it. Congratulations, you're a joggler.
    

How much joggling should a joggler joggle?

For the next joggling marathon world record bid, I've decided to mix things up a bit. In my preparation for Salt Lake City, I juggled for about 95% of my training runs.

For the Scotiabank Marathon, I'm going to start out doing most of my running without juggling, then gradually phase in more and more joggling, with the idea that this will boost my running speed base. If I'm a faster runner and my jjoggling technique is properly honed on race day, chances are that I'll post a faster joggling time.

Last night I went out for a fantastic speed session along the Toronto Beach boardwalk. It was an 8-mile run and I did four 1-mile intervals, plus a big sprint up a 400m hill near the end. Less than a week into my training, I'm already starting to feel fit.

Scattered thoughts on record-breaking

Since I'm not officially training for anything right now, I've been experimenting with a mixed-bag of running- and juggling-related activities.

Five-ball joggling: I'm getting better at this, but am still unable to imagine running an entire marathon while juggling five beanbags. After experimenting with various techniques, the best strategy so far is to keep the pattern fairly low and heavily angled forward. This way I can run really fast to get the most distance out of my limited ability to keep the five-ball cascade going. Plus, the forward tilt of the pattern allows me to look forward at the road ahead, rather than up at the sky.

Backwards running: My backwards running is getting better and better, but doesn't get any less embarrassing. World-record retro-marathon pace (sub 3 hours and 42 minutes) still feels quad-wrenchingly difficult, though. This one will take at least another year's worth of training.

Stroller-pushing: Now that the weather's good, I've been taking both kids out in the Twinner Baby Jogger quite a bit. It's a great workout going up the big hills. I have no plans to reclaim my stroller-pushing marathon record, despite some generous offers from people willing to loan me their babies.

Non-joggling: Most of my running lately has been non-joggling. I'm working on getting some good speed in my legs before I resume joggling training for my final attempt to win back the record at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in September.