Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Kiwis smash world record for longest match

You deserve a beer, Dad! Brett Meyer and son James smash the world record
You deserve a beer, Dad! Brett Meyer and son James smash the world record

Running 100km on court and fighting blisters, Kiwi father and son Brett and James regain world record for longest squash match
By world record breaker JAMES MEYER 

 

My dad, Brett Meyer and I set the original Guinness World Record in 2008 playing for 25 hours and 55 minutes. Dad and I have both played squash for a long time and originally decided to do the record in order to try and raise money for a family friend who was 12 when he was diagnosed with cancer.

After fighting for 16 months he finally succumbed to the disease and sadly passed away three days before we previously set the record.

He asked us to give the money that we raised not to him, but to the foundation that helped him through his battle with cancer, the Child Cancer Foundation. Seven years ago we were able to raise just short of $26,000 for them.

Since originally setting the record, it has been beaten a few times by various people around the world and we wanted to bring it back to New Zealand.

Over the weekend of April 11-12 we set out to do just that. Playing at the Howick Squash Club, in Auckland, New Zealand, we began at 5am on Saturday all the way until 5pm on Sunday.

By Guinness World Record rules, we had to play constantly, and were allowed a five-minute break for every hour of play. These breaks could be accumulated and we chose to use the bulk of them later on, in the early hours of the morning when it was hardest.

Dad and I had to fight through blisters on our hands and feet, aching backs and legs in order to reach the 36 hours.

It's all over, and time to celebrate
It’s all over, and time to celebrate

 

We fought through the monotony of continuous squash and managed to work our way to becoming the new world record holders for the Longest Squash marathon, singles – a record which is now set at 36 hours and 2 minutes.

Throughout the weekend we ran a total of about 100km each and took approximately 140,000 steps in order to break and set this record. We did score the games….which totaled 245…I managed to sneak through in the end, though, 138 to 97 games! Dad doesn’t like me mentioning that, but I do!

We could not have done it without the help of our incredible support crew, who were there with us through every single step and racket swing for the whole weekend, as well as the motivation of the incredible children that the Child Cancer Foundation works so hard for.

We have raised over $26,000 and hope to add at least $10,000 more to reach our goal. 

Our fundraising page can be found at https://give.everydayhero.com/nz/squashworldrecord

Pictures courtesy of BRETT and JAMES MEYER  

 

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