Dr Reinhart Straszacker and Dr Hendrik Roelof van Huyssteen (both RSA) played their first game of correspondence chess in 1946. After 112 matches, with both men having won half the games, their record play of over 53 years ended with the death of Straszacker on 13 October 1999. The two men eventually met in 1969. After their first two games, the pair would have four matches on the go at the same time.

The longest line of telephones consists of 3,152 telephones, is 449.82 m (1,475 ft 9 in) long and was achieved by the counselling association LifeLine to raise awareness about the frequency of suicides at the Van Stadens Bridge, known as “bridge of death” in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on 29 November 2008.

The longest punch bag marathon lasted 38 hr 00 min by Tom Varley (UK) at the Canal Walk Shopping Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, on 23-24 July 2010. Varley used his attempt to raise funds to fight autism.

The longest continuous archery marathon is 27 hours by Michael Henri Dames (South Africa) at the Alec Mullins Hall, Grahamstown, South Africa from 8-9 August 2005. Holder only 15 at time – parental consent given FITA rules followed, FITA members present

The record for the longest sausage roll is 111.11 m (364 ft 6.4 in) and was achieved by King Pie in Faerie Glen, South Africa on 25 June 2005.

The longest stationary manual on a wheelchair is 10 hrs, 0 min, 1 sec, achieved by Hermann van Heerden (South Africa), in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on 11 October 2011. The minimum requirements for this record was 4 hrs however Hermann was not content with simply achieving the record, he bettered the time by a further 6 hrs.

The longest scuba submergence on one cylinder is 8 hr 20 min 38 sec by Jacobus Jacobs (South Africa) at All About Scuba, Rustenburg, South Africa, on 27 January 2007. One 12 litre scuba cylinder was used for this attempt.

The lengthiest recorded cricket match was the `timeless’ Test between England and South Africa at Durban, South Africa, on 3-14 March 1939. It was abandoned after ten days (eighth day rained off) because the ship taking the England team home was due to leave. The total playing time was 43 hr 16 min and a record Test match aggregate of 1,981 runs was scored.

Switzerland did not concede a goal for 559 minutes across parts of seven World Cup matches from 1994-2010. The streak began after allowing Spain’s 86th minute goal in the Round of 16 matchup at the 1994 World Cup, continued through four clean sheets at the 2006 World Cup, and one clean sheet in the 2010 World Cup before allowing a 75th minute goal to Chile in the second group stage game on 21 June 2010. Switzerland did not qualify for either the 1998 nor 2002 Continue reading →

Graham John Martin (South Africa) covered a distance of 320.1 km (198.9 miles) on two wheels riding his Yamaha XS 1100 and sidecar at Gerotek Test Track, Pretoria, South Africa, on 21 August 1988.