Helping others pushes record-breaker to 1,000
(Reprinted with kind permission of the Ottawa Sunday Sun, May 13, 2007)
Alex Hebert — Sun Media
Photo — Blair Gable/Sun
Most people raise money for their charity of choice by doing a walkathon or canvassing door-to-door.
Not Roy Berger
The 41-year-old Ottawa man shattered a world record yesterday by completing 1,009 fist push-ups in 16 minutes and 57 seconds.
The special education teacher’s efforts were to hep raise money for Christie Lake Camp for underprivileged children.In front of a crowd of about 100 at the Westgate Shopping Centre’s food court, the tall, lean man with a shaved head and tattoos bobbed up and down in 30-push-up intervals before smashing the record.
He didn’t break sweat until he hit the 400 mark. By 900, perspiration was flying from his face and veins bulged from his chest and shoulders.
‘It’s always tough’
“I’ve done this many times,” said the soft-spoken man. “But it’s always tough. I just have to focus on breathing and rhythm.”
The previous record was set by Edmonton native Doug Pruden in 2003 who completed 1,000 push-ups in 18 minutes and 13 seconds.
Last July, Berger broke that record, completing 1,000 push-ups in 17:47 but it was not recognized by the Guinness World Records because there were issues with the video evidence.
He attempted the feat again in March but was over the 18-minute mark.
“(In March) I ran out of energy,” he said. “So, I knew I had to go back to the drawing board.”
For his third attempt, Berger says he had extra motivation.
“I have the motivation to train and do all this on my own,” he said. “But it really pushes you when other people are going to benefit from you efforts.”
And how do you train for 1,000 push-ups?
“Some running, weights and lots of push-ups,” he said with a shrug.
Growing up, Berger was both a camper and a counselor at Christie Lake Camp and now volunteers there.
He hopes many of the kids he works with at J. H. Putman and Christie Lake Camp can learn from his experience.
“A lot of kids I work with have low self-esteem,” he said. “A lot of them have this mind set that if you can’t be the best it’s not worth trying. You have to experience failure to make it. All they see are these Michael Jordan highlights, him sinking the game-winning baskets, but they don’t see the struggle he’s had to get there or even the element of luck involved.”