While the sleepy town of Hailey was waking up Saturday morning, Holbrook "Hobie" Call, 31, of Woodside was re-writing the Guinness Book of World Records along the Wood River Middle School track.
Shortly after 8 a.m. Call started off around the track in a herky-jerky gait. Followed and encouraged by a small entourage of children and adults, Hobie took a stride with one foot while touching his other cushioned knee to the track.
He did it again. And again, being careful to keep his arms elevated. The whole activity was designed to work his legs.
"Lunging" is what Hobie was doing on a warm summer morning on the Hailey oval. He was trying to set a new world record. Not only did he try, Call totally shattered the record by nearly six minutes.
Call lunged for a full mile in 24 minutes and 56 seconds to break the GWR "Fastest Lunge Mile," record of 30:50 set Oct. 27, 2002 by Ashrita Furman of the U.S. at The Sport Park in Neufahrn, Germany.
Fortified by a drink of nutritious wheat grass, Call did the first lap in six minutes. His time at the halfway point was 11:52. He finished the third of four laps in 17:57. When Call got to the final 100 yards, he lifted six-year-old son Hunter to his shoulders. He lunged ahead.
Hunter weighs 49 pounds, so it wasn't easy for Hobie to make it down the final 100 yards. In fact, it was the only time in the entire mile of lunging that he struggled rising up from his knee touch. But Call made it down the homestretch and got a nice round of applause from the 15 spectators.
Call took a running lap and took another drink of wheat grass cocktail. He said it was the first time he had attempted one continuous lunging mile, although he had been convinced he could be successful and break Furman's record by his shorter interval training.
The requisite two judges, Jeff Shiver and Idaho Mountain Express photographer Willy Cook, watched Call's record attempt and pledged to make statements verifying it to the Guinness Book of World Records. Frosty Call, Holbrook's brother, worked the video camera. The video will also be submitted to GWR.
Call said he was determined to raise the lunging standard to a new level by refusing to use his arms in helping raise the lower part of his body during lunges. Photos of Furman's lunging record six years ago indicated Furman used his arms. Call decided not to.
Everybody was proud of "Hobie" afterwards, including his wife Irene and his three other children, Hawk, 9, Brooke, 5, and Forest, 2.
A native of Star Valley, Wyo., "Hobie" has seven sisters and two brothers—and both brothers, Frosty and Walden, along with sister Rebecca Baggett rooted for him Saturday.
The combined families went camping up Deer Creek after the record was set and "Hobie" did a little hiking. He was a sore Sunday, but the 5-8, 135-pounder managed more hiking.
Hobie and Irene moved to Hailey from St. George, Utah in December 2007. The couple met while running cross country for the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls. "Hobie" works for Thermal Temp Heating and Air Conditioning. Not surprisingly, he runs distances.
Call qualified for April's U.S. Olympic Men's Marathon trials in New York City with a 26.2-mile finishing time of 2.16:00 at last September's Top of Utah marathon run. But he got sick for the Olympic Trials. Lunging is one of the ways he thought might help his marathoning.
He is toying with the idea of trying to break other Guinness world records including a 13.1-mile half marathon run with 40 pounds on his back. Lunging and carrying weight build extra structural strength, he said.
"If I can do a half marathon while carrying 40 pounds, I ought to be able to do an all-right marathon," Call said.
Meanwhile, Hobie and Irene will gather the necessary paperwork, photographs and video tapes and send it to GWR. They hope to receive a plaque honoring his achievement sometime in the near future.
Holbrook "Hobie" Call lunges along the Wood River Middle School track at Chuck Turner Field Saturday, watched by young and older admirers. Photo by Willy Cook
