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JOGGLER'S JOTTINGS

by Bill Giduz

The world's fastest joggler

The world's fastest joggler, Owen Morse, was running about 20 miles per hour when he fell headfirst into the asphalt track. Having just crossed the finish line in a a new world's record time for the 100-meter joggle, he noticed too late that a crowd blocked his deceleration lane. He tried to swerve, but his 1/4" spikes caught in the track.

You can tell almost instinctively when an athlete falls if it's a serious case. The crowd knew immediately Morse was hurt. People gathered quickly around and ministered to him on the track for about five minutes. Friends then ,helped him off the Akron University track to apply ice and further first aid. They tried to ease his pain with the news that his 12.12 second time was a record. But Morse only knew that he wouldn't be back for the finals.

How ironic! He had just broken the world record in a preliminary heat, yet it appeared he would not even place in the final standings!

But in a scene of heroic proportion reminiscent of Washington 's Delaware crossing, Morse limped back onto the track and to the starting line as the finalists lined up there 20 minutes later. His shoulder, hand and knee were badly scraped. "How are you?" someone asked. "Not good," he said painfully as he approached. "I think I'll just walk it."

Someone called out, "Come on, Owen, forget the pain and go for it!"

He said later that word of encouragement changed his whole attitude. Morse did go for it. When the gun sounded, he forgot his pain and remembered the goal of his countless hours of joggling practice during the previous year. He pulled into the lead and won the IJA 100-meter joggling world championships for the second year in a row.

If joggling could use a hero, Morse qualifies. The story of his world record run, fall to the asphalt and comeback to win the race follows the outline of many classic hero legends. The character of the man and his dedication to joggling amply support the conclusion to the story.

In hero fashion, even as Morse wrote the conclusion to one story, he was opening the chapter on others. After he won the 100-meter three ball event in Akron, he anchored a four-man relay team that set a Guinness record 4:31 time for the joggled mile. Then he ran a l5.25-second hundred meters with five balls to establish another Guinness record.

Morse spent a lot of time in the last year studying joggling and working with his track coach to shave hundreths of seconds from his time. "I practiced a lot on the start of the race, where I thought it would be won or lost," he said. "I must have gone through those first ten acceleration steps 500 times trying to move my legs as fast as possible. I developed a method of clawing the balls for the first few steps to get out of the blocks quicker, then worked on making a smooth transition from the claw to the cascade. "

Late at night he would leave his Tustin, Calif., home for moonlight joggles. Over time his rhythm became so steady he didn't need moonlight. He found he could joggle with his eyes closed. "It has become absolutely second nature," he said.

Morse and others who take their sport seriously are building a strong case for joggling as a mainstream sport. It has now also caught the attention of one of the leading administrators in the world of running, Fred Lebow, president of the New York Road Runners Club and director of the New York Marathon.

Lebow first heard of joggling from Billy Gillen, a Brooklyn resident now well known for his five-ball joggles around Central Park. However, Lebow only took it seriously after watching Albert Lucas joggle the Los Angeles Marathon last spring.

Lebow immediately recognized a combination of beauty and athletic benefit. So Lebow set out to learn, and found it surprisingly easy to master the cascade. He began using one-pound Exerballs to build upper body strength. And now that he can juggle standing still, Lebow wants to begin joggling.

Bigger than his personal discovery of joggling, however, is his decision to allow Lucas and Gillen to joggle in the upcoming New York Marathon.

Marathons are attracting more jogglers all the time. Besides the long-distance efforts of Lucas and Michel Lauziere previously reported in this column, it appears that others have tried it as well. Reliable reports indicate Sean Thomas Minnock joggled marathons in Hawaii in 1985 and 1986 - the second one in the fastest time ever reported, 3:38. Colin Francome of London did the London Marathon joggling clubs!

Finally, too, I'm glad to report organized woman joggling. Sandy Brown gets credit for motivating her friends to hold the first-ever IJA women's race.

With women and the New York Marathon on its side, joggling may be on a fast track for headlines!