Jugglers tackle unique 5K in Lisbon

LISBON - For most people, running in a 5K race is hard enough.

They're focused on beating their previous time, or even just on finishing the race.

Yet through the streets of downtown Lisbon on Saturday morning, runners were faced with an added challenge.

The IJA World Joggling Championship 5K race was held in Lisbon, a part of the 70th annual International Juggling Association Festival that has been held in Cedar Rapids all week. The road race, ran on a USATF certified course, could be ran normally. Or, the race could be run with an added twist: while juggling.

'Three balls actually isn't that difficult,” Gabrielle Foran, who was the first female to cross the finish line, said. 'The throwing pattern, the timing of it, is fairly easy to time with running … It's not that much extra effort.”

Nearly 30 people took on the extra challenge of juggling while running the race, making up close to half of the field. Some took the race very seriously, speeding through the course while trying not to drop their balls or pins. Others, though, simply walked the race while juggling.

Trai Bunch of Ely won the race overall with a time of 15:35. Jacob Heimer of Kasson, Minn., was the first juggler across the finish line with a time of 19:18.

'It was about kind of what I expected,” Heimer said. 'I kind of wanted to go out a little faster. The first mile and a half was clean which was really nice. I dropped one in the grass, picked it up and then dropped it again because it was slippery. But it was really nice.”

Foran was not just the first female to cross the finish line, but also the first female joggler, with a time of 19:31. Because she finished first in both categories, she took home $500 in prize money.

Foran, who hails from Hamilton, Ontario, first started joggling on a challenge from a friend. From there, it just took off.

'A few years ago when we were in university together, he found out that I knew how to juggle three balls and he challenged me to a 5K joggling race,” Foran said. 'We didn't end up having the race for a couple months after that, so at that time I was actually good enough at juggling that I could run an OK time … Then I heard about the IJA joggling events, so I started training to try to break world records in three-ball joggling.”

Now Foran holds multiple world records, in the women's three ball 400-meter run, 800-meter run, 1,600-meter run, mile run, 5K run and 10K run.

So even though her time in Lisbon wasn't the best she's ever had - she said it was about a minute off her record joggling time - Foran was still happy with it.

And, she was thrilled with the turnout. She said she loves getting to see new people come out and try the sport.

'This is probably one of the events that has the most jogglers because this 5K is associated with the IJA festival, so I think you would get more people who aren't necessarily serious about running to come and try it,” Foran said. 'I've definitely been to events where it's a road race and I'm like the only person juggling.”

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