PICTURES: Round the clock crazy golf challenge in Inverness raises £10,000 for charity - and sets potential Guinness World Record
An Inverness crazy golf owner’s madcap charity event is set to putt £10,000 towards local good causes - and secure him a Guinness World Record.
Gus MacDonald of Inverness Crazy Golf had the inspired idea of staging a round the clock, fancy dress mini golf-a-thon to raise cash for some of the area’s smaller charities.
But after a check through the famous Guinness listings, the hard-working Inverness businessman decided to take his own personal involvement a stage further.
The records revealed that the previous longest verified mini-golf match had lasted 24 hours, so Gus decided to play for 25 hours non-stop.
He is now awaiting a decision by Guinness World Records after sending signatures and documentation to them as provenance of the June 22 feat.
Some 38 teams, each paying £100, took part in sunshine conditions and the long daylight hours of the solstice, with the fundraising total set to smash five figures.
Such was the great interest from local charities, Gus had to pick the 24 to benefit in a lottery-style draw.
“We thought it was a brilliant event - everyone seemed to have an excellent time,” he said.
“The support we received in everything from raffle tickets, to prizes, to the support from people coming to play their hour-long slots within the 24 hours was just fabulous.
“We were blessed with sunshine as well, which made it even better.
“It was the day after the Longest Day, but it certainly felt like the longest for me!”
Gus completed a full 8am to 3pm work shift at the course before the event, nipping home for a shower before his own 25-hour through to 7pm on Sunday challenge began.
“I didn’t stop. Even when I needed to go to the loo, I took my shot and then nipped away quickly while the other player took theirs,” he said.
“We had everything floodlit for the night-time hours, with supporters and friends helping out on the door. The whole effort from everyone was exceptional and we owe a lot of gratitude to a lot of people.
“We had some terrific fancy dress with families arriving through the night in their costumes. I wasn’t sure if people would get on board with that side of it, but they really embraced it - it was great fun.
“One of the most surreal moments was down to my friend Hilda, who got an image of my face copied onto masks. I turned around and there were eight of me, staring at me!
“I thought I was in The Matrix! After 23 hours mini-golf, I thought I was hallucinating.
“My wife got the biggest fright. She says one of me is enough!”
Gus is unsure as to whether his record attempt will meet the Guinness World Record standards, but he added: “I wrote to them three months ago and they never got back to me, so at the moment it is an unofficial attempt.
“But I have the signatures and names and addresses of everyone that played with me and I’ll send all the documents and pictures to them.
“They might recognise it as a new record, you never know, but it was an added bit of fun to the day.”
