Celestine Onele, a Nigerian man from Ebonyi state has commenced a 120 hour ironing marathon to set a new Guinness world record.
Onele who is an electrical engineer currently pursuing his masters degree at the Nnamdi Azikiwe university in Awka, Anambra started his journey on the 22nd of April 2024 in Abakaliki, the capital city of Ebonyi state, Nigeria.
Speaking to journalists prior to the commencement of the record-breaking attempt, Onele disclosed that the Guinness World Record has approved his 150 hour ironing marathon with some rules that must be strictly adhered to .
He said that he is very prepared and ready to embark on the marathon which is supposed to hold at the Real exclusive in Abakaliki while urging the public to bring in their clothes for ironing through out the period of his attempt.
Onele claimed that he loved ironing right from his child hood and it is the only activity he eagerly does without feeling stressed. He said that was what motivated him to seek for the record breaking opportunity, aiming to beat the current holder of the record, Garric Standard who is from UK and Huston who is from Australia.
“Before Garric standard from the UK, the current holder of the record was Huston who is from Australia, Huston broke the record in the year 2012 with 80 hours of ironing and then Garric took over from her when she ironed for 100 hours, so after Garric Standard did, GWR gave chances to other people who also tried but couldn’t make it to the finish due to the fact that they tampered with a lot of rules which have been put in place by Guinness,” Onele said. He added that,
“Currently I am on the verge of attempting the Guinness world record for the longest marathon ironing in the world, so if i surpass the current holder of the record, I will be the new holder for the longest marathon ironing by an individual in the world.
“I am an engineer but I love being inspired to do different things to put my name on the map.
“On 7th July last year, I submitted my application to the Guinness world record after a rigorous research which we all know that after submitting the application, it takes a whole lot of inspection from different expertise and by the grace of God, after 18 weeks of waiting, I got a mail that my application to attempt a Guinness world record has been approved.
“After three weeks a specific guideline was approved for me and it’s a guideline that I have to follow to break the record. There are so many rules in the guideline which if you don’t adhere to, you will not be recognized by Guinness.
“Some of the rules say I have only 30 seconds to pick materials, so whenever i finish ironing a material, I have 30 seconds to pick another one and iron, and for the rest break, I have five minutes to rest after an hour.”
Onele called in for support both from government and individuals to help make his dream of being Guinness record holder a reality by cheering him and assisting him with materials he would be needing for the marathon.
