Filming a Long Guinness World Record

Working and filming for 40 hours straight with just a few 10 minute breaks was tough. But well worth it!

A short video I made for the lads as a keepsake of their immense effort

At 8.00am on Friday 20th May 2022, two teams set out to try and break the Guinness World Record for the longest game of Beach Touch Rugby. Filming the attempt was tough but watching these guys play rugby for 34 hours was incredible.

Motor Neurone Disease

The event was organised by Andy Vaughton (at the center of the image below), an anesthetist who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease last year. This event was to raise money for two charities that are helping to fight this terrible illness. 

MNDA and the My Name's Doddie Foundation

Andy was initially hoping to raise £5000 for each of the charities above, MNDA and the My Name's Doddie Foundation. I was so happy to hear that the latest update, just one week after the event, was that they have raised over £100,000!!!

Well done to all!

Beach Touch Rugby

The Guinness World Record they were aiming to beat was for the longest game of Beach Touch Rugby which currently stood at 33 hours, 33 minutes and 33 seconds.

They were aiming for 34 hours, and they smashed it!

Now touch rugby, to me, seems hard enough but playing on sand? For 34 hours?!?

Despite the sand, the rain, the wind and pure exhaustion after playing through the night, the camaraderie, fun and energy from both teams never waned throughout. It was a pleasure to watch and be a part of.  

The support from the growing crowd, especially on day two, was superb. With some humorous commentary at times from friends of the teams along with some ass-kicking, bassy beats from the Red Bull Beats Machine below, there was plenty to keep the onlookers (and myself) amused and entertained.

Another nice touch was a group of ladies at the event singing at various times, a song they wrote for the challenge. Some of these women also read out special messages of support from the children of the players.

Quite emotional for the teams I'm sure.

Shooting Video For a Long Guinness World Record

This was nothing new for me. Six years ago almost to the day, I filmed another long Guinness World Record for the longest football match in aid of the Shoreham Air Disaster in Sussex. Talk about in at the deep end...

I said at the time this was the hardest thing I have ever had to do with regards to my career/business. The match lasted 108 hours or 4.5 days! However, the latest challenge, even though shorter for me, was just as tough if not more so.

If it could go wrong...

After just a couple of hours the rain came making filming that much more challenging as I was pretty much open to the elements. As well as the rain, throughout the event, I was faced with:

The responsibility of providing the video evidence for such an event is immense and stressful enough but when faced with these things, even more so. Thankfully, all of the preparation I did prior to the event wasn't in vain!

A full dry run with two cameras one week before the event allowed me to make sure the cameras, and memory cards were capable of filming non-stop throughout.

Editing a Long Guinness World Record

Once the World Record has been filmed, Guinness need the footage to enable them to verify the record. They do this by matching up key moments during the event with video footage which has a time stamp embedded. 

I had to render out 68 individual video clips and upload them to the Guinness website for verification. We are now waiting for confirmation of the new record...