A group of Winmau-backed darts players from the Reading and Wokingham area has smashed the Guinness World Record for the most number of bullseyes in 10 hours by a team of eight.
Using just two Blade 4 dartboards, their achievement of 1,549 bullseyes beats the previous best, which has stood since 2011, by 44 and has helped the team raise an estimated £5,000 for Berkshire-based charity, The Lend & Play Toy Library.
Four of the team – Sean Kerry, Jon Watson, Matty Wilson and Bryan Pidgeon – were part of the record-setting team five years ago. This time they were joined by Lee Hussey, Joe Lacey, Paul Roe and former two-time world champion Dennis ‘The Menace’ Priestley.
"Several teams have tried to break our old record over the years,” says Jon Watson who hit 208 bullseyes in the attempt. "We thought it would be a great idea to try and raise the bar a little higher and make some money for a worthy local charity at the same time.
To satisfy Guinness World Record rules, the attempt had to be witnessed at all times by a team of independent witnesses who worked in shifts to ensure the rules were being followed and bullseyes were recorded accurately. In addition, the attempt had to be recorded on two separate video cameras. Once the stopwatches started counting down the 10 hours they could not be stopped, making factors such as the need to change dartboards all the more important.
"We chose Blade 4 dartboards because they are what we use in our darts league and they have always proven themselves to be great quality and hard-wearing,” says organiser Richard Saunders. "Clearly we knew the bullseye and 25 would take a pounding, but in the end we only had to change the board once, after about eight hours, meaning we wasted hardly any time. It stood up incredibly well.”
The dartsmen played in pairs for shifts of 20 minutes each and had to average better than 25 bullseyes each. Joe Lacey was the team’s star performer, hitting 389 bullseyes on his own. The team now faces an agonising wait while Guinness scrutinises their evidence to hear if they have been awarded a new world record.
The team raised more than £1,000 by inviting local companies to pay to place their logo on the players’ shirts, which were donated by Winmau. With the players also raising their own sponsorship, they hope the final figure will top £2,500. Microsoft has said it will match what the team raises.
"The money will make a tremendous difference to the charity,” says The Lend & Play Toy Library’s Debbie Reeves who watch the action. "We provide toys and learning equipment to children aged 0-7 from across the Wokingham and surrounding boroughs. We are almost completely volunteer funded and the money the darts players have raised will go a long way to making plenty more children happy.”
For more information, please contact:
Richard Saunders richsaun@microsoft.com / 07968 968 438
Guinness World Record holders, from left to right: Jon Watson, Joe Lacey, Sean Kerry, Debbie Reeves (Lend & Play Toy Library), Paul Roe, Dennis Priestley, Bryan Pidgeon, Lee Hussey and Matty Wilson
