A 28-year-old wheelchair-bound man from Odisha made a valiant attempt to enter into Guinness Book of World Record books by covering 213 kilometers in the city in 24 hours ending on Sunday.
Kamalakant Nayak, the para-athlete, who hails from Puri district, covered the distance of 1.14 km between the city’s Rajmahal and Mastercanteen Square 189 times. He started turning wheels from 4.30 pm on January 15 and stopped at 4.30 pm on January 16.
If Nayak’s feat is approved by the Guinness Book of World Records, he will break the current record of 182.4 km (113.34 miles) achieved by Mario Trindade (Portugal) in 24-hours in 2007.
Odisha-based voluntary organization- Better Life Foundation- organized the event to send the message that disability is no barrier to scale greater heights.
“We had approached authorities of Guinness Book of World Records to know the processes to be followed for registering the record. Evidence was collected in three forms – video footage, GPS data, and independent qualified witnesses. We are confident that Nayak’s feat will receive the nod of Guinness Book of World Records”, said Durga Prasad Pattanaik, representative of Better Life Foundation.