Nigerian man breaks Guinness World Record with 9-day read-aloud marathon

Nigerian man breaks Guinness World Record with 9-day read-aloud marathon

Abdullateef Fowewe

Twenty-seven years old Osogbo born, Samson Ajao, has broken the world’s longest marathon reading aloud, clocking in at 215 hours, remaining just an hour to reach nine full days.

This was revealed in a post on the verified Guinness Record X (formally Twitter) handle on Wednesday.

To achieve this milestone, the challenger must read aloud continuously from published works, with no more than a 30-second pause between items being read.

The last individual to hold the record is Rysbai Isakov from Kyrgyzstan by using 124 hours in 2022.

However, Samson according to Guinness Records read around 100 books in total, covering subjects such as finance, sales, management, leadership, politics, health and mental wellness.

Samson was said to have attempted the record to promote literacy development and inspire a reading culture across Nigeria.

“As per our rules for all ‘longest marathon’ records, Samson accumulated five minutes of rest time after each hour of reading, totalling two hours per day. Only during these breaks could he eat, sleep, use the bathroom or change his clothes,” Guinness Records stated.