History was made this weekend at SportsPlex in Half Moon, New York. Four grown men, professional dodgeballers of the New York Epic team decided to go after the Guiness record for the longest straight dodgeball game ever, 24 hours. Rob Immel of Malta, Mark Rabideau of Albany (left) and J.P. Richards and Oren Gal, both of Toronto played straight for a day taking only a 5 minute break every hour.
The first set of opponents, from 7:30 pm until 9 am were friends and various supporters of the men, then various 5 man amateur and recreational teams challenged the pros in hour long matches. On the line for the rando teams, $1000 for the highest scoring team against the pros.
Even after having played through the night, the pros were still going strong. “They’ve got a lot of endurance,” said John Vandish of Saratoga Springs after two hours of competition for the “Dark Knights” team. “I’m sucking wind, and I work out every day.”
The night wasn’t a piece of cake though, “At 5 a.m., they all got the 5 a.m. giggles and they were just cracking up, acting like lunatics,” said Sammie Richards, J.P.’s wife.
The idea for the event came while watching the Olympics when Immel wondered why dodgeball wasn’t an Olympic event. Obviously the first step to becoming an official event is to get a Guiness record. In order to be certified as legit, there were cameras set up for the entire event, as well as witnesses for the entire marathon.
By the end of the 24 hours, the men were exhausted but jubilant. They did it! A new Guiness record was set, one that is unlikely to be broken any time soon. Like most Guiness records, it is one that few will ever strive for, but that meant everything to the people who did it.
The Slanch Report 
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