Mumbai: For this marathoner, it’ll be a lot of synchronised coordination. Ketan Abhonkar, who will trot 42 km at Tata Mumbai Marathon next Sunday, will match his step with the movement of his hands, juggling three balls in the air while on the running track. Yes, unusual as this may sound, the 44-year-old will be “joggling” along the entire marathon route.
Joggling is the art of jogging-and-juggling balls stuffed with seeds, explains the Pune resident. “Initially, I was a bit wary that people might judge the action as silly,” he admits, going on to add that joggling calls for a good amount of coordination skill. “People do watch curiously at what you’re up to,” says the mechanical engineer who has previously joggled in half marathons. It’ll be his maiden attempt though to joggle 42.19km in a week from now.
A trained runner, Abhonkar who has been an avid runner for the past eight years took up the demanding skill of joggling a couple of years ago. He started playfully juggling cricket balls that his wife and son were playing with, that he discovered he could try out the skill on a larger scale. A bit of initial trying, some concentration and practice later, he has now nearly perfected the art of joggling.
“The three balls that I keep tossing in the air are stuffed, weighing around 115-120 gm, so that they are sufficiently heavy. Joggling calls for a good amount of concentration and synchronised coordination,” points out Abhonkar, who works as a senior manager at a software company in Pune.
5″I have so far managed to combine the concentration required for juggling and the endurance required for a marathon, to bring joggling to India,” he says.
Off the running track, he juggles the demands of professional life with his passion for sports. He started joggling short distances, initially doing 5 km, moving on to 10 km and 15 km, graduating to 21 km. He has also covered tough terrain, juggling three balls while running uphill on the hilly surface in Satara.
What is it that motivates him to do all this? “Health and fitness,” he sums it up crisply. “We all need to take at least 30 minutes out each day to try and keep fit,” says Abhonkar who has been listed in India Book of Records as the ‘fastest runner to compete a half marathon while juggling three balls’ for which he clocked 2 hours 20 minutes. He says he aims to finish joggling at Tata Mumbai Marathon in 4 hours 30 minutes.
Onlookers do crowd around to watch as he joggles, he said, adding: “I see a lot of people’s hands go to their pockets to take their phone out for some pictures.”
