A Nigerian man known as Celestine Onele begins a 150-hour ironing marathon to set a new Guinness World Record.
On Monday, April 22, 2024, Onele, a native of Ezza South Local Government Area in Ebonyi State, started the endeavor to break the record.
The electrical engineer is currently a postgraduate student at Nnamdi Azikiwe University undergoing his Master of Science (M.Sc.) program in Awka, Anambra State.
When he began the task, he informed reporters in Abakaliki that he had obtained permission from Guinness for the marathon ironing, with specific guidelines that had to be followed for the record.
Onele also added that he enjoyed ironing since he was a young child, is hoping to surpass the records set by Australian Huston and British Garric Standard.
He said:
“Before Garric Standard from UK, the current record holder was Huston from Australia. So, she broke the record in 2012 with 80 hours before Garric did in 2015 for 100 hours.
“After Garric Standard did, Guinness has given approval for some individuals who have attempted the record but didn’t get the acknowledgement based on the fact that there were so many rules they tampered with.
“Currently, I am on the verge of attempting the Guinness World Record for the longest marathon ironing in the world. 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 July 7 last year, I submitted my application to Guinness World after a rigorous research which we all know that after submitting 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 tamper with, you will not be recognised.
“One of the rules says I have 30 seconds to pick materials. So, whenever I finish ironing a material, I have 30 seconds to pick up another material and iron. And for the rest break, I have just 5 minutes to rest after one hour.”