ARMIDALE City Public School are yet to learn whether they will feature in the Guinness Book of Records, after the students’ efforts with the skipping rope last week.
The students, along with students from TAS Junior School and St John's at NEGS, joined other schools Australia-wide celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Jump Rope for Heart.
They celebrated by attempting to break the record of having the most people skipping at a single time.
Organiser Jodie Ridley said she is confident they will break the existing record of 7362.
“I spoke to a Jump Rope for Heart person the other day and she said it will take about two months for them to collate all their information and hear back from Guinness World Records,” Mrs Ridley said.
“It’s a bit of a drawn-out process, but they think we are in with a good chance of breaking the record.”
The event required meticulous planning, with organisers having to follow stringent guidelines set out by the Guinness Book of Records.
“All the witnesses to the event had to be Justices of the Peace, so they could vouch for us,” Mrs Ridley said.
“We also had to make sure the students were ready to go at exactly 11.30am. It was a combined record involving a number of schools Australia-wide, so they all had to be ready to start at the same time.”
The school also prepared the students for the rigorous challenge.
The students were allowed to borrow skipping ropes before school, and they also skipped during PE lessons.
“Most of the children’s cardiovascular fitness was good enough to allow them to skip for the full three minutes. If they got tangled in the rope they were allowed to stop for a maximum of 10 seconds,” Mrs Ridley said.
“We had 303 students take part in the record attempt. It is a very difficult skill for the younger kids to master, and the ones who couldn’t do it were moved to another area so they weren’t counted at the end.”