Guinness World Record-breaker Vernon Kruger finally comes down from his barrel

Kruger broke his own 22-year-old Guinness World Record for sitting in a 500-litre barrel affixed atop a 25-metre pole in Dullstroom. On Saturday at 10:31 he had been in the barrel for 78 days, 23 hours and 14 minutes. The small town came to life with celebrations and the community came out in numbers to witness this event. Kruger was airlifted from the barrel and afterwards went out to greet the community.

The people were yelling praises like “Vernon, our hero!”, “We love you!” and “We are proud!”. “The local people think of me as a hero and I am just a guy who broke a record,” said Kruger. Kruger’s name will be written in the history books for a second time, as thus far no-one had surpassed the record he had set in 1997.

On Saturday he told Steelburger/Lydenburg News that getting out of the barrel felt like he just came back from a holiday. “The highlight of the record attempt was when the flight came; the excitement from the people and adrenalin. It was so nice.

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I was a bit worried to get out since it was more difficult to climb out than to climb in.” He said he was looking forward to sleeping in a real bed and taking a proper bath. “I want to sleep on a big bed, and hopefully where I am going there will be a bath tub.

” When asked if Kruger would do it again, he jokingly said he would only if he was paid a lot of money. He added that he learned a lot during this second attempt. “I learned a lot of patience and how to deal with frustrations. As soon as I get frustrated, I would think positive thoughts.”

On Monday January 20 at 11:32, 11 days prior to his final descent, he officially broke his record for the second time. At that time, he had been in the barrel for 67 days and 32 minutes, but despite this, he said he would not be coming down, and decided to stay on.

He told the newspaper that he had wanted to make it hard for the next person that tried to break his record. Kruger could not help but appreciate the support he got from everyone. “The support I got was unbelievable and it has been so great. It helped so much, it means a lot and I am grateful.

People would pass by everyday and check if I was coping,” he said. During his record attempt, he raised funds for charity organisations. The money raised will be donated to the local Epilepsy South Africa Centre and the Belfast Children’s Home.

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