Adelaide Thunder attempts wheelchair basketball world record

SLEEPING bags will line the courts and coffee and energy drinks will be on tap as a Guinness World Record is attempted at Adelaide Arena this weekend.

Adelaide Thunder players Adam Roocke, Alex Azevedo, Richard Davis, Phil Stephens and David Gould will attempt a wheelchair basketball world record this weekend. Picture: Stephen Laffer

SLEEPING bags will line the courts and coffee and energy drinks will be on tap as a Guinness World Record is attempted at Adelaide Arena this weekend.

A group of SA’s best wheelchair basketballers will play for 32 hours straight as they aim to break the mark for the longest match in history.

State captain Adam Roocke does not plan on sleeping throughout it.

“But 24 hours into it and it might be a different story,” Roocke, 34, says.

“I’ll definitely have a sleeping bag and pillows there just in case.”

The marathon game will double as a fundraiser to help the Adelaide Thunder re-enter the National Wheelchair basketball League after it has failed to field a side for the past three years.

Not-for-profit organisation Disability Recreation and Sport SA had funded the team up until 2013 but has since been unable to foot the $40,000 needed to enter the national competition.

“If we got a team back in the national league, it would open up doors and options for people that don’t realise they can compete in sports again and they do have pathways to go down,” Roocke, who shattered his T4 vertebrae in a motorbike accident in 2003, says.

Players will rotate on and off the court throughout the game, but cannot leave the Findon centre when on a break.

There will be no quarter-time, half-time or three-quarter-time intervals, but players will be awarded five-minute rests for every hour on court.

According to Guinness, British team South West Scorpions hold the record for the longest game after playing for 27 hours and 32 minutes.

But Auckland Wheelbreakers claim to have broken it by playing for 30 hours last November.

The record attempt will run from 9am Saturday until 5pm Sunday.

Entry is by gold coin donation. To donate, head to drssa-donations.myshopify.com