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THEY describe themselves as “a bunch of nerds” but four Brauer College students are now world recordholders. James Hickman, Josh Alexander, both aged 18, Harry Twyford and Matt Smith, both 17, officially broke a Guinness World Record on Saturday when they completed a Mario Kart session lasting almost 36 hours. The group of mates smashed the record of “longest video games marathon playing a racing game” set in 2009 by several hours as they finished with 35 hours and 46 minutes, using different games in the Mario Kart series on the Wii U, Wii and Nintendo 64 consoles. Harry said the gaming side of the world record was easy compared to the effort required to officially document the process. “We came up with a few ways to keep ourselves occupied doing the same thing over and over again,” Harry said. “With good mates around you it takes your mind off what you’re doing and made the attempt really easy.” “We played for a very long time in the beginning which allowed for a huge amount of break time, because you’re allowed 10 minute breaks for every hour. “When we had our final race we all waited at the finish line and crossed it together, which was a good laugh.” Harry said finishing the record was exhausting, but the hardest work came organising the event beforehand. “We had many phone calls back and forth with the New York (Guinness World Records) office. “We were about to call it quits but we pulled through and had an incredible amount of support from (media teacher) Paul McFadden, the mayor and these JP (Justices of the Peace). “To volunteer their time at such short notice was incredible.” As well as holding a world record, the four students used the event to raise more than $400 for Peter’s Project. “Having a family with a few run ins with cancer, we’ve lost a few family members and thought it would be a good idea to raise money for Peter’s Project,” Harry said. “We know how difficult it can be with all the travel. “Knowing we were going to raise money towards this charity was another motivating thing and even the community got behind it. “It’s a great way to raise money. “We’d like to come back and do another record, game related because we’re a bunch of nerds. “Michael Neoh suggested we could do it at Fun4Kids so that could be an idea there.”

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