Longest Marathon Giving Speeches by Team Mexico

From Friday 27 February to Sunday 1 March, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and proposed by Toastmasters International, a 90 years old organization committed to improve the communication and leadership skills, it was presented a record attempt validated by Guinness World Records for the longest marathon giving speeches, in the framework of the celebrations of Guadalajara anniversary.

This project was joined enthusiastically by Mar Adentro de Mexico, a civil organization from Guadalajara focused on promoting the culture of debate amongst the Mexican youth.

The proposal was also backed by the Culture Commission of Guadalajara Town Hall and approved by the plenary. Toastmasters and Mar Adentro contacted Guinness World Records with their idea with unlimited number of participants could be created.

The minimum requirement set from Guinness World Records was a 24 hours event, however the organizers wanted to set a more difficult mark, and from the first moment they aimed to surpass the 72 hours goal.

The rules for this record establishe

d from Guinness World Records state that every speech should last at least 5 minutes and only pauses of 30 seconds as a maximum between speeches are acceptable.

A total of 458 speakers: Toastmasters from Guadalajara and coming from other Mexican states, university students belonging to Mar Adentro and citizens in general participated in the attempt. And due to the fact that the event took place in a public place, el Parque de la Revolucion, the event generated a huge interest for public in attendance.

On 27 March one of the participants was the Major of Guadalajara himself.

From Saturday, Guinness World Records Adjudicator Carlos Martinez was present in Guadalajara so he could confirm, right after the conclusion of the event, that a new record had been set, with an official time of 72 hours, 45 minutes and 57 seconds.