Petanque World Record Attempt

Commemorative Shirts

2008-05-27T18:02:00.004-04:00

We sold almost our full 2 Dozen of commemorative event shirts, but we had more requests from attendees to order some more for friends and family, so we are taking orders for more shirts!

This second order will likely be the last, so get your email in soon to gwrshirts@michiganpetanque.com. Include your order quantity, the sizes, and snail mail your payment in to me at 1167 Ironwood Court, #4, Rochester, MI 48307. The cost is $15 per shirt. (We have a couple of Large shirts left, first come, first serve on those!)

Get your order in soon!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! 48 HOURS

2008-05-26T10:43:00.006-04:00

48 hours The world's longest petanque marathon was completed in Rochester, Michigan. We began at 5:00 p.m. on Friday - May 23rd and played petanque continuously until 5:00 p.m. on Sunday - May 25th.

Photos & Movies

Slideshow of Photos (and Movies)

The day (for me at least) began with the completion of the scoreboards with clocks for the two pistes. Then after putting my 4 dogs in their kennels (1 a guest from James and Cheryl) I drove out to the Detroit Airport to pick up Juan and Alex who flew in from Florida.

Arriving at Halbac Field in Rochester, Michigan at around 2:00 p.m., we met up with our fellow participants: Erin (California); Joe Z.; Ian; Mamary C. (Pittsburgh); James H. and Cheryl D.; Cyrille D.; Ziggy (Chicago); and Michael R. along with out brave volunteers: David R. who is a whiz at anything electronic (working the digital WiFi feeds and the web chats and Blogging); Denise (getting the sponsors in line; talking to the public; making sure people's food orders were in place; getting the food; plus a billion other things!) Mike and Cathy Ardelean (working the visitors; showing the sport to guests; operating the side event raffles and games).

There was plenty going on: setting up the courts, pitching the tents, getting the Digital Camera and VHS cameras ready at HQ; talking to inquisitive onlookers gathered at the field; putting up the various banners; and lots and lots of fielding of questions.

Then we set-up the teams. We would have two games running at the same time. Each team composed of three players, one of which was designated an alternate and who could get rest while the others were playing and keeping petanque playing continuously.

The teams:

Ian; Mamary and Juan verses Erin; Joe and Alex

James; Cheryl and Jeff verses Cyrille; Michael and Ziggy

The playing schedules were composed around an 8 hours playing and 4 hours rest mode. The Deemed alternate could take their rest but be in proximity to the courts. In this way, during the nights we could alternate in for some rest while the others played.

I don't really need to go into the day time - pretty standard stuff for anyone who has played 16 hours of petanque in daylight. The night, however was particularly special. Think of nearly total darkness except for a couple of construction task lights which cast 45 degrees of light on to a swath of piste. Now add to this 40 degrees as the temperature. Let's just say there were PLENTY OF LAUGHS on the piste during those hours!

But as the sun rose at 7 am each morning (Sat. & Sun) - we felt newly invigorated for the day ahead. And with Denise bringing in the warm bagels and coffee - a bit revived as well.

Some of the more memorable moments:

David with a blanket wrapped around himself, in a total exhausted state
after sleeping inside a cold van - diligently getting up to check on the digital
feeds and blogs at 5am.

Mamary shouting out something that sounded like "Hakuna Matata Blo blah blo
blaah" every now and again.

The usual petanque traditional end-of-game hanshakes turning into the far
easier: twin finger pointing "aaayyyyy" signal.
Erin stacking used "Full Throttle" boxes beneath her as insulation against the chilly ground during rest times.
Eating hot pizza on the court with dusty hands but not caring because the food was so warm and the night so cold.
Reports of deer crossing the field at night.
David moving his laptop around the field on 500 foot extension cords to capture some WiFi signals.
Ziggy, rarely losing, stating during a game: "I would die for one point"
During an 8 hours shift in the middle of the night, crack'n jokes about what foods would have uncomfortable results for players ... such as Chips Ahoy and cocacola (expletives won't be typed here)
Exhaustion apparent when Cyrille doesn't realize a boule is hanging from the end of his boule magnet at 3 a.m.
Whevever anyone was dragging the heavy steel mesh and chained "court groomer" around and the others helpfully shouted "you missed a spot" or offered a friendly "HEE HAW" donkey sound...
Cheryl wrapped head to toe in a dark blanket, sitting courtside at 6am, with James and I commenting on what an honor it was to have Emperor Palpatine come watch us. (Starwars)

The second evening, the schedule was adapted to a better system: 3
hours of playing, and 6 of rest. In this way we'd still be getting up to a 40
degree evening (let's say playing the 2am to 5am shift) but at least this time
the overhead field lights offered easier illumination.
By 9:10 a.m. we had passed the World Record set by Germany at 40 hours and 9 minutes. But to merely break the record wasn't enough, we had to smash it! So we soldiered on until 5pm, making the 48 hour mark.

Then it was all I could think about to get home for a hot cleansing shower and a night's sleep.

Congrats to all of my fellow players and volunteers! Good work!

How about we break it again next year in Sonoma, California; Miami, Florida or Chicago, Illinois?

Live Video Feed!!!

2008-05-24T08:35:00.001-04:00

There is now a LIVE video feed Provided by Reed Web Designs at; http://www.mogulus.com/petanque

MAP TO THE GUINNESS WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT

2008-05-23T08:10:00.002-04:00

Here's a link to some driving directions I made for you to get to this event:

MAP

See you there!

Photo Album

2008-05-22T21:59:00.001-04:00

Hello Everyone,
There will be a Photo Album Updated constantly throughout the event courtesy of David Reed of Reed Web Designs.

The address is http://reedwebdesigns.com/worldrecord/

Forecast for Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-22T10:00:00.000-04:00

Looks like smooth sailing. Don't forget to wear longjohns for the evenings (those from Florida and California - "longjohns" are what we in the North wear during cold evenings when we cross the frozen tundra on our dogsleds).

and sunscreen and wide brimmed hats for the day time . . .

Rochester Eccentric - Account of Challenge

2008-05-22T09:38:00.001-04:00

In today's Rochester Eccentric there's a piece about the challenge:

Rochester Eccentric

LIVE CHAT Thursday Night 9pm (eastern)

2008-05-22T04:00:00.000-04:00

Do you have a question about this event? Perhaps you're a participant and want to find out about a detail - or need to be picked up at the airport... Just log in here:

www.lhcw.net/Petanque

on Thursday night at 9pm (eastern) and we'll chat about the 48 hour challenge.

Curious and want to know what we've been doing to put this event together? Join in too.

Jeff.

Detroit News - Article on Upcoming Guinness Event

2008-05-22T03:29:00.002-04:00

The Detroit News has a short article about the event:

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/16352069/detail.html

Warm Hands = World Record Success

2008-05-19T16:01:00.004-04:00

The 75 degree days are fine, but when the temperature dips into the 50's I'll need to keep my boule throwing hands warm. What to do? If we were clever, we could assemble one of those cool boule warmer sand braziers like the Chicago Club did for their Winter Boule tournament - but for self-preservation, I'm going to be pack'n the Zippo Handwarmer. Not a paid endorsement mind you, I don't know if it'll do the trick, and there are other brands out there...

Detroit Pree Press Article About the Rochester Heritage Festival and the Guinness World Record Attempt

2008-05-18T23:09:00.002-04:00

Today, the Detroit Free Press published a short teaser article about the upcoming event: ARTICLE

Robot Disqualified from Participating in World Record

2008-05-18T20:19:00.002-04:00

TOBOR-13 cybernetics robot conceived earlier this year by engineer and petanque enthusiast Kenneth Chance, has successfully completed 5,000 perfect carreaus in a row. But despite this excellent achievement, it will not be able to participate in the Guinness World Record for longest petanque marathon this Memorial Day weekend. Prof. Chance was disappointed by the news but encouraged that his invention will be offering massages to the player's feet during the 48 hour contest.

Resting up for the World Record Attempt

2008-05-18T08:55:00.002-04:00

Some people have a theory that they should sleep in excess before the Petanque Marathon, while others feel they should have a normal schedule and then slide into the marathon as-is.

My advice: no excessive caffeine or sugars to destablize bodily levels and result in a "sugar coma" crash.

Oh - and sunscreen, layered clothing, comfy shoes, socks to change, and a wide brimmed hat.

Final Festival Details Discussed!

2008-05-17T22:16:00.004-04:00

Festival Chairperson, Mr. Steve Wolken (Standing in Red), meticulously refines the final plan of next week's Rochester Area Heritage Festival. Posters and flyers were handed out, recent press coverage from the gracious area reporters were read as different event leaders primarily enjoyed listening to each other and left the meeting knowing that the only task left is to watch all the area festival goers enjoy themselves next weekend! Congratulations are in order to all the volunteers shown here for their months of festidiuos planning! Please stop by on Memorial weekend and enjoy their efforts!

World Record Challenger Mike Reed Already Victorious

2008-05-16T21:35:00.000-04:00

A Quick Visit to the Leader Dogs H.Q.

2008-05-14T01:11:00.008-04:00

The Leader Dogs for the Blind has gone through some fairly extensive renovation in the last few years, and I was privy to a quick tour by our club's Leader Dog liason, Jane Porter. (and of course Flint!)

Mostly all of the dog's homes are new, and they "graduate" and move from quadrant to quadrant around the facility as their training progresses. This lucky guy is always watching guard to be sure these tropical fish are always at there post!

And eventually you see a few of the upper classmen walking the halls, but here you can see "Boots", 1 of 2 guard cats watching to be sure no one gets far from their handler.

Rochester EMS Comes to the Rescue!

2008-05-14T00:44:00.004-04:00

As the record attempt date draws near, I had a chance to discuss some more things in detail with Rhonda of Rochester's EMS Team. She was quite enthusiastic and supportive of the team and said that no one will fall on her watch!

Energy to be the best!

2008-03-24T19:54:00.004-04:00

Measuring for the Guinness World Record gets easier! (by May we hope that snow won't be in our picture! ;-) Full Throttle agrees to help provide our world-record setting team with the energy to be the best in the world! Team players have 24-hours-per-day fuel while Rochester Area Heritage Festival goers sample free cans of this great energy drink provided by Coca-Cola!

Piste Check!

2008-03-22T08:55:00.004-04:00

I had a quick chance to pace out some courts on Friday afternoon to make sure we had sufficient room for our proposed piste layout just before our Michigan, Spring, Easter Weekend Snowfall! Yikes!

(The 5th highest season on record in Michigan for snowfall!)

But our courts were quite resilient given all of our recent melting, they were a bit muddy, but nothing that a few days of sun couldn't handle. It was quite inspiring to see where history's going to be made just a few weeks from now with the courts clearly marked...

So here the panorama lies with the record-breaking teams playing on the two courts off to the right on Courts #1 and #2 right next to home plate. By May, they'll be dry, dressed, and ready to go!

Lipuma's wants your help!

2008-03-17T18:07:00.003-04:00

Tony, owner of the Detroit area's famous Lipuma's Coney Island is committed to donating prizes to support our contestants, but he wants to know what you want! Stop by his shop and tell him whether you want hot dogs, tacos or his delicious home made soups... tell him "computer genius" sent you! ;-)

Sponsors love the Heritage Festival & Petanque

2008-03-17T16:37:00.002-04:00

Please visit our new festival partner, Elements! I had such a great time meeting with Bonnie and Shelly today! Their new store in downtown Rochester has the cutest European gifts and they enthusiastically agreed that they'd love to donate to our cause of setting a world record as well as helping Leader Dogs for the Blind during our weekend of contests -- start practicing to win their gift certificates, or stop by the store at 115 E. Fourth Street or online at Elements website.

Heritage Festival Meeting Focuses on Petanque

2008-03-17T16:13:00.003-04:00

The clock begins to tick and final preparations are decided as public relations and publicity for the Rochester Area Heritage Festival and the Guinness Record attempt become the primary focus of last Saturday's festival meeting. Mr. Steve Wolken (Festial Chairperson) and Mary Howarth (Festival Board Member) are critical to the event's successful development!

Welcome to our World Record Attempt

2008-02-25T23:27:00.003-05:00

On July 23, 2006, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the World's Record for Longest Petanque Marathon was set at 40 hours and 9 minutes. On May 24th, 2008, at the Rochester Heritage Festival in Michigan, we shall attempt to beat that record.