Edwin and Bergeron Joggle 3:00:06 Marathons on Same Day

October 15, 2023 will go down as one of the most remarkable in joggling history with two jogglers joggling marathons on the same day in the exact same time of 3 hours and 6 seconds, an Atlantic Ocean apart from each other.

Chris Edwin joggling the 2023 Yorkshire Marathon
(Photo via Chris Edwin)

First, U.K.'s Chris Edwin smashed his personal best joggling marathon time at the Yorkshire Marathon to become the third-fastest joggling marathoner of all time after me and Zach Warren. Later that same day, Canada's Michael-Lucien Bergeron set off on the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon on a blazing joggling pace ahead of my world record 2:50:12, but suffered some cramping to finish in 3:00:06 and tying Edwin on the third all-time marathon joggling list.

Many things can go wrong with you're running a marathon. Add juggling to the mix and the number of things that can go wrong increases exponentially. Here's how Bergeron described his race, in an Instagram post:

Michael-Lucien Bergeron joggling the
2023 TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon
(Photo via Michael-Lucien Bergeron)

"What went wrong: When joggling you don’t have easily access to knowing your pace, so you rely on people around you. I had intended on running with Jennie for the first bit of the race but started to far back which took me over 5km to catch up to her. By that time, I was already running at a decent clip and decided to keep going, clocking a 1h22min30sec half marathon. From there things started to go wrong, with hot stop under my feet and stomach cramping. The pace was slowing down by 30km and I stop around 31.5km for a couple second contemplating just quitting. Some cheering from the sideline got me back in the race. Around 35km I started having an extreme pain in my left wrist, which is still present 24h later, likely overuse of tossing balls for 3h straight lol. With 2km to go, I got major cramping in my legs and even laid down on the ground for 1-2min while someone gave me a massage and someone else poured Gatorade in my mouth. I looked at my watch and got back up and tried sprinting to break 3h but finished 6sec over the mark in a time of 3h00min06sec. One last thing is that every time I needed to hydrate or anytime, I dropped a ball I had to stop forward movement to hydrate or pick up the ball which generated some lactic stress on the body."

Looking forward to seeing what these two guys can do in future marathons. And hopefully they can do a Kapral-Warren-style joggling marathon duel at some point in the near future. 

Joggling in Georgina for a Marathon DNF

Hi! It’s been nearly four years since my last post. Here’s a quick recap. There was a pandemic. In early 2023, we moved from Toronto about 100km east to the beautiful town of Port Hope, Ontario. In May, I ran my first 100-mile trail race (no juggling). On Sept. 10, I planned to joggle the Georgina Marathon for a Boston Qualifier and then joggle the Boston Marathon next year. 

My training for Georgina was terrible due to general laziness and lack of motivation, but I still felt like I had a good shot at a sub-3:25 age-group BQ time. Any thoughts at another no-drop joggling marathon were immediately dashed when I fumbled a catch about 30 seconds into the race as I tried to navigate the crowded path on the shore of Lake Ontario as runners jockeyed for position as they settled into pace. The beanbag rolled into the dirt, a sign of trouble to come. 

I settled into a good rhythm and clocked off a 22:10 first 5K and consciously slowed to 47:41 at 10K, hoping for a 3:15 to 3:20 marathon finish. But by the time I hit the half in 1:38, an early twinge in my left calf muscle had become a painful strain. An old juggling injury in my right shoulder had also reared its ugly head. So as I headed out on the second loop of the two-loop marathon course, I realized I’d have to pay an arm and a leg to finish the race. I stopped rest several times but it was no use. Just past 32K, I met up with Dianne on the course and called it a day. I hadn’t dropped a ball since those first few metres of the race, but now I dropped my whole self out. 

It was my second-ever DNF in a race (years ago, I dropped out 50K into a 100K race) but no regrets! Now time to train for my first-ever joggling trail race at the Fat Ass in Battawa, Ontario. 

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.

-30-

For high-resolution images, or for more information, please contact Michal Kapral at joggler1@gmail.com, or @mkapral on Twitter.

Lance running ad

Awesome.

The Long Run

Today's joggling mileage: 21 miles

Every Sunday I do a long joggle as part of my marathon training. Today I used the small yellow Higgins Brothers beanbags that I'm going to use in the race.

After a double espresso and some muesli I took off at 7:45 a.m. At 8:30 I met up with some of my Longboat Roadrunners running club friends and we all ran to a local cemetery to do some two-mile loops.

Cemeteries are perfect for winter training because there is virtually no traffic, and they always clear the roads of snow and ice. We measured out a nice training loop at Pine Hills cemetery in the northeastern corner of Toronto. I've run this loop hundreds of times over the past five years and have memorized all the potholes. There's something very comforting about a familiar route. When I first started joggling ,I felt a little uncomfortable about juggling in a cemetery. It felt weirly inappropriate. I'm used to it now – entertaining the dead.

I clicked off four cemetery laps for eight miles at an average of six minutes per mile. Not bad. To break the world record of 2:52, I need to average 6:33/mile for the whole marathon. Can I do it? Definitely maybe.