The 12-hour exhibition match featured 284 players at Brookhaven Country Club in Texas
History was made in Farmers Branch, TX on Sunday in conjunction with the 2023 Biofreeze USA Pickleball National Championships.
A new Guinness World Record presented by Deep Eddy Vodka attempt for the most participants in a continuous pickleball match was successfully completed when 284 players hit the court constructed along “Pickleball Boulevard” over a 12-hour period between 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. CT.
World No. 1s Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters were among the participants who played in 10-minute intervals to officially etch their name in the record books.
The effort broke the previous record mark of 250 players. All 284 participants will be sent an official Guinness World Records certificate commemorating their involvement in the record. Guinness World Records will authenticate the attempt after carefully reviewing the 12 hours of video footage and other materials.
PPA Tour event planner Brook Thygerson, who spearheaded the Guinness World Record attempt, was thrilled with the incredible response to the unique initiative.
“Technically, Nationals didn’t start until Monday, so I was worried that nobody was going to show up, and I’d have to pull in our staff to play, but we had waitlist upon waitlist to participate,” said Thygerson. “People were asking every time they walked by me, ‘Can I jump in? How do I sign up?’ If we had more time and more bandwidth, I bet we could’ve played for a whole 24 hours with the amount of people that wanted to jump in for this event.”
Deep Eddy Vodka headlined the event and handed out free red and yellow “Drink Vodka. Break Records” t-shirts to all participants. Team Ruby Red vodka ended up beating Team Lemon vodka by a narrow margin – 657 points to 636 points.
Waters summed it up nicely, “Setting world records, I like to be a part of that.”
Johns also appreciated the chance to be among the competitors on court. “I was excited. Setting pickleball records [is awesome] for sure, but now a world record, that’s a step up.”
It really was a perfect way to kickstart the Nationals festivities for all involved.
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