An Austin local has bounced his way into the Guinness World Records, by pulling off an extraordinary stunt during the Austin Marathon. Ben Duong, not just ran the half marathon, but did it while dribbling a basketball, smashing the previous world record with a time of 1 hour, 21 minutes, and 38 seconds, as per KVUE.
Finishing 12th in the race, Duong's time would be impressive on its own, however, his added hoop skills were what caught the crowd's attention, overcoming the previous record by nearly 4 minutes. During the stretch, Duong had to maintain control of the ball without picking it up, a misstep would have required him to return to the spot where he lost control to continue his dribble – a rule that, he adhered to throughout the race,
Duong's supporters and training partners from his high school days were on hand to cheer him on, including friends Kobe Yebez and Elijah McWilliams. "This isn't the first challenge I've seen Ben do," McWilliams said in the interview. "And Ben, he's the type of person to do something like this – his passion for running is on another level ... and he loves every bit of it," according to the Austin American-Statesman.
Throughout his unique challenge, Duong was backed by none other than the San Antonio Spurs and had to navigate the marathon route filled with other runners and obstacles, all while keeping the basketball bouncing, an effort that attracted a considerable audience as he crossed the First Street bridge. "It was so many people, and like, I remember, I was just yelling 'We got a world record attempt!' and everyone went crazy and they were like, 'Basketball boy!'" McWilliams recounted, as reported by Austin American-Statesman.
