MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Basketball Marathon zoomed in to the current world record Friday, with players breaching the 100-hour mark four days into their non-stop basketball action at the Meralco Gym in Pasig.
As of 1p.m. Friday, the Filipino basketball marathoners have played more than 100 hours and are 12 hours away from matching the Guinness World Record for the longest basketball game played. Their target is to play 120 hours straight.
As of posting time, the two teams have amassed more than 13,000 points each, surpassing both team and individual scores set by the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis, Missouri on March 21-25, 2012. The previous record was at around 11,000 points.
The event is organized by the Asian Cable Enterprises Inc. to generate funds for the typhoon Yolanda victims.
Discovery-ACCESS chief operating officer Jacque Ruby, the event’s top official, earlier said players had to deal with several health concerns, including foot blisters, dehydration and muscle strains.
But Ruby said these have already been addressed.
The social networking website Twitter has been flooded with updates on the endeavor, featuring the hashtag #BasketballMarathon.
Basketball Marathon: PH five minutes away from reaching the 100th hour mark. pic.twitter.com/zee9cVyHGP
— Mark Giongco (@MarkGiongco) March 28, 2014 Philippines on its fourth day attempting to break record of 112 hours set by US last year. Filipinos' target is to set it at 120 hours.
— Mark Giongco (@MarkGiongco) March 28, 2014 Score now reads 13847-13856. Already way past previous record last year of 11k. #BasketballMarathon
— Mark Giongco (@MarkGiongco) March 28, 2014 12 hours to go for the world record!!! #basketballmarathon http://t.co/dR38h4RoZU
— Tristan Gomez (@Tristangomez04) March 28, 2014