Man runs marathon on 23ft balcony during quarantine

21 March 2020, 13:56

Elisha Nochomovitz ran a marathon on a 23ft balcony
Elisha Nochomovitz ran a marathon on a 23ft balcony. Picture: Instagram

By Maddie Goodfellow

A man facing quarantine in southern France has completed a marathon by running back and forth on his balcony.

Elisha Nochomovitz ran 26.2 miles on his 23ft balcony in six hours and 48 minutes in what he said was a physical and mental challenge.

He has shared his feat in Balma, a suburb of the southern city of Toulouse, as a way "to extend my support to the entire medical personnel who are doing an exceptional job" during the coronavirus outbreak.

He also said he wanted to show others that it is possible to stay fit as virus containment measures tighten around the world.

"It was about launching a bit of a crazy challenge and bringing a bit of humour, to de-dramatise the confinement situation," he said.

He suffered nausea during his run, and was worried his neighbours would complain about the constant pounding of his footsteps.

The French authorities are still allowing people to go outside for "individual sports" like running, if they sign a special form explaining why.

But the number of joggers has multiplied in recent days, amid exceptionally warm weather, and French authorities are now worried that too many people are still out in the streets.

France as started checking joggers
France as started checking joggers. Picture: PA

Mr Nochomovitz said: "If everyone thinks the same way and does the same thing, we'll all find ourselves outside and that won't help anything, and the message that we need to stay confined at home will have had no impact."

He said he had already been training for a marathon, and "I needed to assure myself that I could still run 40 kilometres whatever the condition".

While running, he said his mind wandered.

"I thought about many things, what's going to happen, when I see that the world has stopped, sports, economy, finance," he said.

"We learned in history about wars between nations, men and weapons, but this is something that is beyond us."

He especially thought about medics, who he described as "the real everyday heroes".

And he paid tribute to his girlfriend, "who was giving me drinks and M&Ms" throughout the challenge.

View this post on Instagram

🌈🏃‍♂️RUN HAPPY🏃‍♂️🌈 . ➡️Malgré les annulations de courses il est primordial de rester motiver et surtout de continuer à courir happy. 😁 ⏰La programmation d'une saison sportive est indispensable pour atteindre ses objectifs et rester motivé tout le long de l'année, mais parfois on doit faire face à des imprévus. Je ne me prononcerais pas sur le sujet étant donné que ce n'est pas mon domaine de compétence mais dites vous que le principal c'est d'avoir la santé 🙏 🔹️Nombreux d'entre vous sont en pleine prépa pour leur 1er marathon, et je sais tout les sacrifices que cela comporte, les fractionnés le matin sous la pluie pour pouvoir profiter de sa vie de famille, les tours de stade sous la pluie à compter les secondes de récup, les engueulades avec monsieur et/ou madame pour les chaussures pleines de boues,les verres d'alcool refusés pour cause de prépa et sans compter les réveil à 8h le dimanche pour les SL... 🔸️Dites vous une chose c'est que tout ces efforts ne seront pas perdus. Le corps a une mémoire 💪😉et ces "echecs" bien qu'indépendamment de votre volonté vous renforceront le mental. ➡️Alors oui j'ai déjà accroché plus de 150dossards, donc peut-être que cela m'affecte moins me direz vous, mais j'entraîne ma pensée a voir ce qui est positif dans chaque situation ,et je me dit que c'est un mal pour un bien. Peut-être aussi parce que je suis blessé et que du coup je ne pourrais pas courir 7marathons en 2mois 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤷‍♂️ En tout cas restez motivé et n'oubliez pas de prendre un maximum de plaisir dans tout ce que vous faites🙏 🚀Alors lace tes baskets et va courir,car ta seule MOTIVATION c'est TOI 💪💪 📸 @peigneeverticale #runhappyteam #brooksrunhappyteam #runhappy #runhappyteamfr #marathonman #run #running #runningman #runnerlife #motivationoftheday #runnersofinstagram #instarunners #runtoinspire #runstoppable #runstagram #motivationoftheday #marathonman #nevergiveup #athlete #npng #workout #lauf #laufen #like4like #likes #likesforlikes

A post shared by 🌟Marathon-Man 🌟 RunHappyTeam🇲🇫 (@elisha_nochomovitz) on

It comes as France crossed the threshold of 10,000 coronavirus cases on Friday.

French health authorities have also reported 78 new death from coronavirus since Friday.

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

South Africa Bus Crash

Girl, 8, the sole survivor as 45 die in bus crash off South Africa bridge

A spokesman has denied reports the sausage dog could be banned.

The wurst news is over: Germany denies claims of sausage dog ban

Israel Palestinians Britain Aid

UN top court orders Israel to open more land crossings into Gaza

Greece Confidence Vote

Greece’s government survives no-confidence motion called over rail disaster

Israel Palestinians UN Security Council

Russia ‘abolishes’ monitoring of sanctions on North Korea with UN veto

Firefighters at the scene of a bus crash in Limpopo

Bus falls from bridge in South Africa and erupts into flames, killing at least 45 and leaving child, 8, as lone survivor

Music-Green Day UN

Green Day to headline UN-backed global climate concert

Sam Bankman-Fried

FTX founder Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for crypto fraud

France Valentino

Former Gucci designer Alessandro Michele named Valentino creative director

Russia Shooting

Russia arrests another suspect in concert hall attack that killed 143

American Easter egg

White House’s annual Easter egg roll to be attended by 40,000 people

Barbers in Paris

Proposal to ban discrimination over a person’s hair passes first legal hurdle

Mahmoud Abbas

Palestinian Authority names new government following pressure to reform

Arvind Kejriwal

Opposition leader Kejriwal locked up for further four days, court rules

Resident clears rubble from home

Russia wears down Ukrainian defences with missile and drone attacks

Pope Francis

Pope urges priests to avoid ‘clerical hypocrisy’ in Maundy Thursday speech