Ukrainian artist tattoos for 63 hours straight to beat Russian record
"I read in the news that a Russian holds the current record. I thought I have to beat him, as this is another front line as well."
MYKOLAIV, UKRAINE (CBS) — A Mykolaiv tattoo artist said on Wednesday he set a new Ukrainian world record for continuous tattooing of 63 hours.
Tattoo master Denys Arkhypov who held the marathon, inked non-stop from Sunday evening to Wednesday morning, after trying to beat the previous record held by a Russian of 61 hours.
“I read in the news that a Russian holds the current record. I thought I have to beat him, as this is another front line as well,” said Arkhypov.
“Then, our guys from the 79th separate air-assault brigade turned to us for help, and it all fit together.”
Volunteer and tattoo enthusiast Rostyslav Ron told Reuters on the last day of the marathon while getting his body art finalized, that he got a lion tattoo to donate to the Ukrainian army.
“The 79th brigade, the brigade from our hometown of Mykolaiv, (is) in need of a pick-up truck. They are displaced in dangerous spots in Donetsk region,” Ron said.
During the marathon, Arkhypov inked nine tattoos, all of them were large and complex. He also had just five minutes to rest, eat and drink coffee every hour.
He was helped by one assistant, Veronika Havryliuk, who was also the moderator of a continuous online livestream documenting the event.
Due to hourly schedules of power outages, Arkhypov worked both with and without light, connecting a generator and using batteries.
The Ukrainian record was set at 9.12 a.m. (0712 GMT). Now the relevant committee will submit a petition to the Guinness Book of Records to make it official.
