Photography And Half-Thoughts By Mitchell Hegman

...because some of it is pretty and some of it is not.

Sunday, January 23, 2022

A Winning Carrot

Perhaps you recall Aesop’s famous fable about the race between the tortoise and the hare and the surprising winner.  But have you heard about the recent footrace in which a carrot broke a world record?

Allow me to tell you the story.

First, you need to understand that nothing is too crazy to qualify for a Guinness World Record.  Take for example, Mac, a parrot who presently holds the world record for opening the most soda cans in one minute.  Mac managed 35 cans using only his beak.

In this case, we are talking about the Guinness World Record for running the fastest marathon while dressed as a fruit.  I realize carrots are a vegetable, but apparently the Guinness folks don’t drill down all the way on some matters.

The hero (carrot) in our story is Jordan Maddocks, 35, from Draper, Utah.  On January 16, while participating in the Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon in Phoenix, he clocked a time of 2:44:12.  This beat the previous record of 2:45:08, which was set by carrot-suited runner Andrew Lawrence at London's Virgin Money London Marathon in 2017.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Mr. Maddocks admits to having struggled with substance abuse in my past.  Running helped him beat his addictions.  His efforts in the record-winning race raised funds for the substance abuse charity Release Recovery Foundation.

Good stuff right there.

As an extra bonus, Britain's World Carrot Museum took note of Maddocks' record-breaking run and offered high praise by way of Twitter.



Mitchell Hegman

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