Records are meant to be broken, but one Boston man absolutely shattered the world record for consecutive jumps on a pogo stick over the weekend and did it for a good cause.
James “Pogo” Roumeliotis is no stranger to the pogo stick, having set many records on the childhood toy, but on Saturday he brought his stick to Medal of Honor Park in Southie to jump more than 100,000 times, obliterating the previous record of 88,047, the Boston Herald reported. .
“Pogo” had held the record for several years, up until it was taken from him in 2015 by Jack Sexty of the United Kingdom during Pogopalooza in Philadelphia, according to the Guiness Book of World Records.
But after eight years off, Roumeliotis made his return to the stick and jumped at the park for more than 10 hours to break and set the new record.
When Roumeliotis was attempting to break the record before, in 2007, Guinness World Records allowed for a five-minute break every hour. Under those rules, he recorded more than 186,000 bounces in 20 hours.
He also jumped for about 23 miles once, which earned another world record, according to WCVB.
However, Roumeliotis’s Saturday spectacle wasn’t solely about reclaiming the record, as he also jumped to raise money for veterans.
Partnering with the New England Center and Home for Veterans, Roumeliotis helped raise more than $10,230 from more than 120 donors.
The center is home to more than 300 veterans on any given night, and supports more than a 1,000 individuals every year with housing, education, employment opportunities and more.
In the end, Roumeliotis made 115,179 consecutive bounces on his pogo stick.