Balcony marathon

The British national newspaper website The Guardian reported on 21 March that in a bid to keep fit Elisha Nochomovitz had run a marathon distance on the 7m-long balcony of his flat.

Confined at home in Toulouse, France, by the coronavirus he would have had to run more than 6000 lengths of his balcony and executed 6000+ 180-degree turns.

The feat called upon all his physical and mental strength to keep up the metronomic rhythm for 6 hours and 48 minutes. He did it in support of medical personnel and to demonstrate that even severe restrictions on movement need not prevent people keeping fit. “It was [also] about a crazy challenge and bringing a bit of humour to de-dramatise the confinement situation,” he said. During the run he became nauseous and was worried that his neighbours would be annoyed by the sound of his footsteps.

As temperatures have risen more runners are out on the streets in France causing official concern that the message to stay confined at home will lose its impact.

Nochomovitz admits that he lost count of the laps but relied instead on his pedometer to register the distance and his girlfriend to give him drinks and chocolate. Onlookers gazed in confusion but, he says, “the neighbours were very understanding”.