ADAMS, MA -- Mark Horvath and four of his friends have been playing croquet all day. In fact, they've also been playing all night. Their round the clock croquet marathon is actually more of a mission than a game. These five friends from Adams just set the first Guinness World Record for the longest croquet game ever played. They say it took over 24 hours of consecutive play and a lot of teamwork to get it done.
"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.
Guinness still has to sign off on all the logs books and score cards to make the record official. They also need to know that emergency medical staff were on hand during the entire game, and there were enough record keepers to make sure the event is record breaking.
Playing a game of croquet can be a great way to spend an afternoon in the summer. But how about playing for 24 consecutive hours? Our Ryan Burgess caught up with five people trying to play their way right into the record books.
"I've been filling out the log books and when they take the breaks and how long the breaks are," said croquet stewardess Kaitlyn Horvath.
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 Guinness rules, staying awake, and trying to beat all the summertime heat and even the rain.
"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.