It was a herculean effort from four squash players at the Katikati Squash Club last weekend as they smashed their way through to help their club achieve four new world records.
The Brewer boys – Logan, Braden and Chris, along with their good mate Hayden Revell managed to achieve the unofficial Longest Squash Marathon for Doubles World Record at 40 hours and one minute.
They also added a new unofficial world record, Longest Squash Rally (Doubles) with 4348 strikes of the ball in one hour 52 minutes and 40 seconds.
The club, which last year won ‘Bay of Plenty Club of the Year' is in dire need of upgrades with the next refurbishment project estimated to cost $60,000. The attempt at the four new world records was also an attempt to kickstart some serious fundraising.
'We all ended up with several blisters between our toes, swollen feet and hands, severe muscle cramps and sharp shooting pains through our feet,” says club president Logan Brewer.
'We each lost between three to seven kilograms of body weight, burned more than 20,000 calories, maintained an average heart rate of 140bpm and clocked up more than 50,000 steps over the 40 hours.”
As well as the two records set by the four players, the club also managed to achieve a new unofficial world record for the Most People Participating in a Squash Rally, with 63 people turning up for the rally.
Players Glenn Templeton and Winona-Jo Joyce also attempted to break the world record for Longest Squash Rally (Singles). They unofficially achieved this by striking the ball 3563 times in one hour and 10 minutes. The previous record stood at 3408 shots.
'We've raised $13,000 from the event, which is a great start to kicking off our $60,000 club upgrade project and are forever grateful for all the generous contributions from the community,” says Logan. 'We're collating and summarising all of the evidence requirements and hope to find out within 16 weeks if we're new world record holders.”
The link to donate to help with the club's ongoing fundraising is: www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/katisquashwra or by contacting the club on: www.katikatisquash.org