6th January, 2024
… Chancellor Ahaghotu painted for 100 hours
By Cynthia Okoye
A Nigerian art student, Chancellor Ahaghotu, has explained how he broke a decade-old Guinness World Record for the longest painting marathon.
Ahaghotua, a sophomore at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, Georgia, USA broke the record after painting for 100 consecutive hours, Guinness World Records (GWR) confirmed on its website.
GWR said Ahaghotu worked over four days during which he produced 106 pieces depicting all manner of subjects, including celebrities, food items, plants, animals, and much more to break the record of 60 hours set by Roland Palmaerts (Belgium/Canada) in 2013.
Speaking on his feat, Ahaghotu said while he battled fatigue around the 88-hour mark, he was committed to reaching his target of 100 hours.
He added that his initial plan was to do one one painting per hour, so before beginning the record attempt, he prepared 100 canvasses with sketches, ready for him to paint.
He, however, said during his paint-athon, he completed them all with a few hours to spare, so he then produced a series of impromptu still lives, before finishing with a painting of an exhausted person.
“I came to the United States to pursue my dreams and build up my career as a recognised artist.
“Breaking the record will boost my recognition as an artist both in my school and the world at large,” Chancellor told GWR before embarking on his record attempt.
“This record helps me feel a very high level of personal achievement, build up my career as a reputable artist, and pay a service to my school and country.
“One thing I love about the paintings I created is that they represent my different moods and how I was feeling when I created them.
“There was joy and celebration when I completed the 100 hours,” Chancellor Ahaghotu said.
According to GWR, for this record, the challenger can either work on one large painting or create multiple ones, but the painting(s) must be of a recognisable image not abstract painting.
According to GWR, as with all ‘longest marathon’ records, the challenger is permitted a five-minute rest break for every continuous hour of activity, these rest breaks can be accumulated if not taken.
GWR explained that those were the only times Chancellor could use the bathroom, eat or sleep.
A 26-year-old Nigerian chef Hilda Baci had set the world record for longest cooking in 2023.
She cooked from Thursday, May 11 to Monday, May 15, during which she made over 100 pots of food, thus breaking the previous record of 87 hours 45 minutes which was set by Lata Tondon (India) in 2019.
However, her record was later broken by Alan Fisher, an Irish chef of a restaurant in Japan who broke two cooking-related records, according to GWR.
“First up, he’s claimed the longest cooking marathon (individual) after clocking in a time of 119 hours 57 minutes. That is more than 24 hours longer than the previous record held by Nigerian chef Hilda Baci.
“Alan then claimed the longest baking marathon (individual), with a time of 47 hours 21 minutes. The previous record holder was Wendy Sandner (USA) with a time of 31 hours 16 minutes.
“What’s even more impressive is that Alan took on both attempts back to back, meaning he was at work in the kitchen for over 160 hours with just over a day of rest in between!,” GWR said.