Jogglers Rack Up Records in Marathon Efforts

by Bill Giduz 

 

It was a remarkable fall marathon joggling season. Heather Hackett-Brinegar, a novice to the sport, became the first woman to joggle a marathon, while veteran joggler Barry Goldmeier did five balls in the New York Marathon. 

 

Hackett-Brinegar, who won an IJA numbers event in Pittsburgh with her partner Darrin Mariott (10 clubs 104 throws) and competed with him in the Teams Championships, had never joggled before the festival. But she has been a runner for years, and was captain of her high school cross-country team. After learning about joggling in Pittsburgh, she recognized that it combined two of her strengths and signed up for the festival races. She competed in several events, and won the women's mile in 6:47 and women's 5-kilo- meter in 23:45. 

 

Back home in Columbus, Ohio, she began training to joggle more races. She completed the Columbus Half Marathon in September, and the Columbus 30K (18 miles) in October. "It's a lot of fun," the 23-year-old said. "It's half sport and half art form.'' 

 

She then successful joggled the Columbus Marathon on November 9 in 4 hours 15 minutes, a full 15 minutes faster than the only other marathon she ever ran - when she wasn't juggling. Her feat received considerable media coverage, including a spot on CNN. 

 

Hackett-Brinegar has been a serious juggler for four years. Her dad, Tom Hackett, taught her to juggle tennis balls when she was in middle school, and she joined juggling clubs in college at John Carroll University in Cleveland and Ohio State University. She now juggles juggle five clubs and five beanbags, and rides a unicycle. 

 

She practices about two hours a day on a racquetball court at OSU, which is close to her job at Chemical Abstracts, where she works as a computer programmer. She also runs 30 minutes to 60 minutes a day. 

 

The previous Sunday, November 2, longtime joggler Barry Goldmeier completed the New York City Marathon in 6 hours and 22 seconds while joggling five balls. 

 

Goldmeier has run several previous marathons with five balls, but considered this run in New York as his greatest achievement. He was proud to be one of several "oddballs" among the 30,000 runners, and wore a Planters t-shirt proclaiming "Everybody Loves A Nut." He commented, "A lot of people wanted to be the fastest in New York that day. I wanted to be the oddest!" 

 

He attracted the attention of several other notables during the day. IJA festival champion Mike Hebebrand met Goldmeier at the starting line and wished him well. Hebebrand had left his joggling balls at home, and was hoping to run the race in 2:50. 

 

At about mile 12 he encountered Ashrita Furman, the Guinness Book meta record holder, and they spoke for several minutes. Among Furman's records are the three-ball marathon joggle (3:22). 

 

Another fellow runner at the staging area asked Goldmeier if he had run the marathon about 10 years ago juggling five. Goldmeier told him "No," but was reassured by that comment that the legacy of the late Billy Gillen, the first person ever to joggle a five ball marathon, lives on. 

 

Goldmeier was running at an 11- minute-mile pace until hitting a rain storm from mile 16 through 21. As the rain stopped, he "hit the wall" and finished at about a 15-minute-mile pace with frequent drops. 

 

Still, he thoroughly enjoyed the event, primarily because it attracted big crowds of fans who enjoyed his joggling. "After joggling in New York once, this is the one I want to joggle in for years to come," he said. "It was great!"