Posted: May 30, 2005

Athletics: Oakville man sets skipping record

Martin Cleary , The Ottawa Citizen

Dozens of registered runners skipped yesterday's 31st Ottawa Marathon for varying reasons.

Chris Baron of Oakville decided to skip it, literally.

Hoping to earn a berth in Guinness Book of World Records, Baron ran and skipped the 42.195-kilometre race in an unofficial world record of four hours 49 minutes 39.5 seconds.

The 10-year-old record of 5:19 was set by Guatemala's Carlos Lopez in 1995 at Los Angeles.

Baron, a 30-year-old distance running coach, was accompanied by five of his athletes, who also served as witnesses: his father, Al Baron; Ian Harper; Ralph Rozmovits; Stewart Paterson; and Sarah Dewar.

"I've run marathons all around Canada and the United States. Absolutely nothing compares to this marathon," Chris Baron said. "Next year, I'll just run it. The skipping rope will go to sleep for a while."

Baron, known for running sections of his two dozen marathons in bare feet, was looking for a new challenge. He found it when he saw the listing of Lopez's record in the Guinness World Records book.

He tripped 17 times yesterday, which meant he had to return to that spot and skip twice before continuing. He also stopped several times in the final 12 kilometres to massage a knotted muscle in his back.

Toronto Team Prevails

The Toronto team of Matthew McInnes and Nicole Stevenson won the ING Run for Something Better with a combined time of 5:00:34.8 to earn $5,000 each for their specific track and field programs for less fortunate youth.

Victoria's Jim Finlayson and Wendy Montgomery (5:22) picked up $9,000, while Montreal's Louis-Philippe Garnier and Tina Kader (5:23) were third for $8,000.

Manotick runner Liz Maguire's withdrawal shortly past the 30-kilometre mark, because of pain in her left hamstring and calf muscle, left Ottawa in sixth based on Stephane Gamache's time of 2:35:19.5.

© The Ottawa Citizen, Reprinted With Permission.