Longest croquet game-world record set by Adams
players
ADAMS, MA, USA --
Five friends from Adams, Massachusetts have set the World
record for the longest croquet game ever played, after playing
for 32 hours, 33 minutes and 46 seconds.
Photo:
Mark Horvath and four of his friends have been playing croquet
all day.
Mark Horvath:"I've been playing for years. It's
just something I like to do. It's fun to hang out and play.
It's been a passion of mine for 20 or 30 years. I've actually
had this mallet for 20 years. 'It's the wonder mallet'."
Horvath is the manager of the local Papa Ginos,
and he has been helped in breaking the record by some of his
employees, Ryan Poulton, Jennifer Kamienski, Neil Kirchner
and Ryan Jackson.
The say it was teamwork that helped them make
it through the heat and hours of play.
"It's been lots of coffee," Krichner said
smiling. "The rain was bad, we just took shelter and held
on to tarp and waited it out."
"It's pretty tough. It's been hot, it's
been raining, there were thunderstorms," Poulton said. "And
it's been going from cold to hot, sweating to chilly. At first
we were trying to see who could win the most games but that's
long gone. Now we're just having fun, trying to break the
record."
"A lot of team work, everyone came together,
and everyone worked hard. It's not just the five of us out
here playing, but it's the volunteers, the sponsors, everyone
that made this come true. It's really an awesome event," said
croquet player Mark Horvath.
Photo by North Adams Transcript (enlarge
photo)
If setting your own croquet record is knocking
around inside your own head, you should keep something in
mind. One player says playing the game is actually the easiest
part. The real challenge comes from trying to follow all the
official rules, staying awake, and trying to beat all the
summertime heat and even the rain.
"We have to have two witnesses every four hours
so it can be verified," Horvath said."We have to have a steward
to get water and things because we cannot leave the field.
We also have to have an emergency medical technician on duty
in four hour shifts. There's a lot of guidelines to follow.
We had to follow the croquet association guidelines and create
the field which is 100 by 50 feet. We have to play according
to British croquet rules."
"I would say the hardest part wasn't playing.
It was just handling the monotony of playing croquet hour
after hour after hour...the elements, in the middle of the
night, with 95 degree weather," said Mark Horvath.
"I'm thrilled. I'm happy that we made it this
far. It's been rough," said croquet player Ryan Poulton.
It may have been a little rough, but this shot
at the record books was well worth their wait.
"It's interesting to think about. It's
not why we did it, we did it for fun, but it's going to be
fun when we can see our names there," Horvath said. "We've
all been working hard to get ready for it. Now we know what
we have to do next year so we can break our own record. We'd
like to get more sponsorship so we can do it to benefit a
charity. Like a certain amount for every hour we played, maybe
to the Boy Scouts or the little league or something.
"Every year we're gonna try to do this no matter
where we are or what the record is. We're just gonna get together
and play some croquet."
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
|