By: Natasha Archary
A Pretoria man skips his way into the Guinness World Records Book becoming the new title holder after he smashed the previous record set.
SD Heijns skipped 71 185 times to overtake the old record which American Sella Rosa Rega held, by more than 1 000 skips.
It took Heijns 8-hours on Friday, 6 May to take on the record which was held at the Sun International Maslow, in Times Square Hotel, Pretoria.
Heijns is now planning on taking on the 12 and 24-hr records which Rosa Rega still holds.
The record Heijns broke was set by Rosa Rega in 2019.
At 21-years of age, Heijns, who is a kickboxer says skipping forms a big part of his training routine. He took up the sport when he was 12-years old and skipped to keep fit during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking to News24, Heijns said, “This was the hardest part of the record attempt. My best hour was my last hour when I did more skips than the first hour.”
He started toying with the idea to break the Guinness World Record during lockdown and has been training since. Before smashing the record, the longest Heijns was able to skip was 6-hours, where he managed 9 000 skips.
“There are no words for how I felt. I wanted to show that South Africa has talent too and bring this record here.”
SD Heijns reacted after he skips his way into the Guinness World Records Book
A pressure plate system mat counted the number of skips and a separate mechanism was used to monitor how many complete revolutions the rope made.
Heijns’ attempt was recorded by the Sports Science Lab and the Guinness World Records still need to verify his attempt.
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