Joggling with five

Owen Morse joggling with 5

How hard would it be to joggle a marathon with five beanbags? I put this question recently to American joggling legend Barry Goldmeier, who joggled his way through "most" of a marathon several years ago with five beanbags. His finishing time was about six hours.

Barry emailed me a couple of days ago to let me know that my stroller-pushing marathon record is soon being challenged by U.S. marathoner Michael Wardian. I already knew this, but was excited to hear from Barry, one of my joggling idols. I'm hoping to get some pointers from him on five-ball joggling (no balls jokes please) because the few times I've tried it, I found it very difficult to sync up the tosses with the running.

PRESS RELEASE: The Salt Lake City joggle-off

World Record Up for Grabs as ‘Joggling’ Rivals Face Off at Salt Lake City Marathon

TORONTO – The masters of multi-tasking, Michal “The Joggler” Kapral of Toronto and Zach “The Jolly Juggler” Warren of West Virginia, will race for Guinness World Record glory in a “joggling” showdown at the Salt Lake City Marathon on April 21, 2007.

Kapral, 34, senior editor at Captivate Network, and Warren, 25, a laughter researcher at Harvard, will each juggle three beanbags every step of the way as they race against each other along the scenic 26.2-mile marathon course.

The two elite jogglers have been tossing the world record back and forth in a fierce but friendly rivalry since Kapral first set the mark in 2005, with a time of 3 hours and 7 minutes.

Warren edged out Kapral’s record by just 41 seconds two months later at the Philadelphia Marathon and the stage was set for the first ever joggling marathon duel at the famed Boston Marathon. Warren and Kapral attracted international media attention in their marathon joggle-off, with Warren crossing the line first in a new world-record time of 2 hours and 58 minutes.

Kapral stole the record back with a 2:57 performance at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in September 2006. But Warren – with a documentary film crew at his side – again joggled the record back into American hands with a stunning 2:52 in Philadelphia.

“Marathon joggling is a funny sport,” says Kapral, “but this record is seriously difficult. Salt Lake is going to see a no-holds-barred joggling battle and I really want to take the record back.”

Both jogglers are raising money for children’s charities. Kapral is accepting donations for A Run For Liane in support of The Hospital for Sick Children’s new childhood cancer research centre in Toronto, and Warren, also a unicyclist and circus performer, is collecting funds for the Afghan Mobile Mini-Circus for Children, an NGO based in Kabul (http://www.unicycle4kids.org/).

Kapral, a father of two girls, holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest joggling 10K (36 minutes and 27 seconds) and also the Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon pushing a baby in a stroller (2 hours and 49 minutes). He won the Toronto Marathon in 2002 (without juggling) in a personal-best time of 2:30. Kapral writes a popular blog called The Bloggling Joggler.

Warren is a Divinity graduate student at Harvard and has been studying the healing effects of laughter on children in Afghanistan. Warren holds the world records for the fastest mile on a unicycle and the fastest mile on a unicycle while juggling three objects.

Guinness World Records rules state that if the joggler drops a ball, he must return to the drop point before continuing. The balls must be juggled continuously in traditional cascade pattern.

HIGH-RES PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

Contact: Michal or Dianne Kapral at T:416-690-8887 or C:416-573-3036, thejoggler1@gmail.com.