Nigerian man identified as Treasure Olawunmi Bayode is on course to break the world reading marathon record. Disclosing this via his twitter handle (@iread_bayode), he revealed that he is attempting to set a new Guinness world record for “The Longest Reading Marathon”
The young man who kicked-off his reading marathon at the You Read Library, Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba in Lagos, said he plans to read for 120 hours straight with only two hours break every 24 hours. Bayode began the quest at about 1:30 pm on Monday with reading from the book Carnivorous City by Toni Kan. According to him,
“I have always loved to read good materials right from when I was in secondary school.,” he wrote on Twitter.
“I am doing this for the culture! For the reading culture. I am doing this for the youths; to remind them that education is the bedrock of development.
“I am doing this for Nigeria – for the world know we’re a great nation – and yes, we do have libraries!”
Reports gathered from “The Cable” states that Bayode as at Wednesday, already read for 48 hours.
Sponsors of the event include Guaranty Trust Bank, Tagheuer, Lagos state government amongst others. At present, the longest marathon reading aloud record is 113 hours 15 minutes achieved by Deepak Sharma Bajagain (Nepal) at the Tudikhel Ground, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Bajagain’s book reading began on September 19 and ended on September 24, 2008. With Bayode’s quest to reach the 120-hour mark. He will not only hold the Guinness World record for the longest time reading, he might be on the path to hold the record for a very long time.