It’s the fifteenth hour. Shawn Chasten draws yet another red tally on his arm. He just marked 250 points, a drop in the bucket for this marathon of a game. The game is his passion. The game is cornhole.
The Cal Poly Cornhole Club broke the world record for longest cornhole game played May 18. After 27 hours, 12 minutes and 55 seconds of play on Dexter Lawn, Chasten, Billy Markham, Brian Finger and Nick Appen-Lippard made a new Guinness World Record.
The Cal Poly students broke the previous record, made in 2014 by Team Fry and Team Gable in Coralville, Iowa for playing a marathon game of 26 hrs 12 minutes and 44 seconds.
The Rules
In order to complete the record, the team had to prepare accordingly to follow the Guinness Rules. The team had two witnesses spectating the game at all times and a camera video taping the entire game. The players on each team remained the same throughout the entire game. The only breaks allowed were five minutes at the end of each hour.
Thursday, May 17, Hour One:
At 6:00 p.m., the team began their first game of the marathon. A playlist of cornhole-throwing pump up music blasts from loudspeakers and the teammates get started. A large ice chest is packed with energy drinks and water to sustain a competitive edge for the next 27 hours. The mood is upbeat, the team is all smiles and hardly any tallys can be seen on their arms.
“Well right now I feel great, it took a lot of planning and that was pretty stressful, but now we’re playing,” Chasten said.
As evidence for Guinness to show how long they played, there is a large timer on the spectators’ table with a camera recording it. They watch as the minutes turn to hours.
“We have to have the music off by 10 p.m., so hopefully they will let us play just a little podcast to keep our minds occupied,” Chasten said. “But other than that I don’t think anyone’s going to be around.”
The team is focused on the first few games.
“We’ll see where I’m at tomorrow,” Chasten said.
Friday, May 18, Hour 15.5:
At 9:00 a.m. the next morning, the grass is decorated with crushed Red Bulls, empty chip bags and subway wrappers. The team is on their 67th game, and though running on no sleep, they are still optimistic they will play until 9:00 p.m. to break the record.
“We’re feeling pretty great, we got the stamina going right now, we’re not slowing at all,” Chasten said.
Each player has more than 250 tally marks up and down his arm, legs and stomach, proudly showing how many bean bags they’ve hit on the board.
Appen-Lippard opposes Chasten’s team, and as of 15.5 hours, his team was losing 10-57 games, but he still remains positive.
“I’m definitely feeling the fatigue, its a real trek, it’s a marathon, but I still feel like we have the energy to pull it off,” Appen-Lippard said.
Country music now plays from the speakers, as the early morning bustle of students catch their Friday morning classes. The feeling is refreshing, after the silent hours of play overnight.
“It was pretty depressing, actually, a little scary at times, we barely hit the board, but we were still shooting you know,” Chasten said.
Being 15.5 hours in, the boys are over the halfway mark in this cornhole marathon, shining a light at the end of the tunnel.
“At this point it’s just a countdown,” Chasten said.
Hour 27
Their arms are sore, the amount of crushed Red Bulls have doubled, and the title is almost won.
After 27 hours, running on no sleep, Red Bull and their eyes on the prize, the Cal Poly Cornhole team has broken the Guinness World Record for longest cornhole game ever played.
“[It] was a lifetime experience that I’m happy I only have to do once,” Finger said.
The team said that they think this will bring good publicity to their cornhole club and the next annual cornhole club tournament will be the biggest yet.
“We wanted to do something big as a club … and I think a world record does the trick,” Chasten said.