The 40-year-old cancer survivor has been playing the skins at the Burlington Music Centre since Friday at 8 a.m. in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for marathon drumming.
If Gaul can keep the sticks going past Wednesday at 8:01 a.m., he will have surpassed the record of 120 hours of drummming.
Gaul is hoping to raise $1 million for the Canadian Cancer Society in memory of his sister Toni, who battled paranasal cancer for five years before dying last year. Gaul survived testicular cancer.
“Gaul is doing as well as can be expected. His ears are starting to hurt and he’s looking a bit tired but he’s hanging in there,” his fiance Casey Stinchcombe, said after he reached the 102-hour mark.
For every hour of continuous play Gaul receives a five minute break, which he can either use immediately or bank up for later use. At the 102 hour mark Gaul had banked more than 45 minutes.
“It looks like he’s going to make it this year and with that 45 minutes saved, he can take a power nap,” Stinchcombe said.
Stinchcombe said Gaul’s diet has included meatballs, chicken and shrimp, chocolate bars, scallops, bacon and eggs, and protein shakes.
This is Gaul’s second attempt at breaking the record. Last year he managed to drum for 70 hours straight before dropping out.
“I am doing this because I wish to ‘pay it forward,’ Gaul wrote on his website before he started the drum marathon. “Thanks to amazing advances in technology I survived. A lot of people worked really hard to make that possible. Without them, I would not be here today. I owe it to them... I owe it to those who have not yet been diagnosed with cancer...No one should ever have to go through what I went through.”
His sister was his inspiration on the first attempt at the record last year and he wanted to inspire her to stay strong and fight her courageous battle, he wrote.
“Toni lost her battle but the war is not over, Gaul said. “My mother has spent nearly a decade watching her children suffer with cancer. No one should have to witness that.”
By the end of the marathon, Gaul will have played hundreds of songs. There is a DJ spinning rock songs, as well as live bands who have joined him.
