Olawunmi Bayode, a Nigerian, has set a new Guinness World Record in the “Longest Marathon Reading Aloud” Category via GTBank’s You Read initiative.
Bayode, a father of three kids, logged 120 hours at 3:30 pm on Saturday, March 3, 2018, at the GTBank’s You Read Library, Yaba in Lagos, beating the previous record set by Nepali Deepak Sharma Bajagain.
The latter had 113 hours 15 minutes in 2008.
Another Nepalese, Tudikhel Ground, tied the record.
Bajagain’s book reading began on September 19 and ended on September 24, 2008.
He recited 17 different books from 13 authors during his record attempt.
Olubayode started the read-aloud challenge on Monday, February 26, 2018, at exactly 1:30 pm Nigerian time and ended at 3:30 pm on Saturday, March 3, 2018, with selected books that included Toni Kan’s The Carnivorous City, Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s Independence, Leye Adenle’s Easy Motion Tourist, Elnathan John’s Born on a Tuesday, amongst many others
He announced the record on his Facebook page, saying: “Hello everybody, something just happened right now! My name is Bayode Treasures Olubunmi (Olawunmi) – I have just finished reading aloud for 120 hours non-stop!
“I did it for the CULTURE!”
Bayode studied at Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, and Comprehensive High School, Ketu in Lagos.
“I have always loved to read good materials right from when I was in secondary school. I am doing this for the youths,” he wrote on Twitter before he began the record-setting reading marathon.
