It was the 2023 Guinness World Records Day on Thursday, 16 November, and the Nigerian chef, Hilda Baci, was down in London at the annual reference book’s headquarters to be part of the celebration.

Her longest cooking marathon achievement back in June saw her completing the task within 93 hours and 11 minutes although that has now been broken by an Irish named Alan Fisher.

Chef Baci’s dethronement came 10 days ago after the new record owner pulled off two feats. One was for the longest cooking marathon by an individual under the duration of 119 hours 57 minutes, then the other was for the longest baking marathon with only 47 hours 21 minutes spent to pull this off.

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Before the focus shifted to Mr Fisher, it was Hilda Baci attending several media tours that revisited her hard-won mid-year success. Since it was the Guinness World Records Day yesterday, she was invited by Adjudicator Mark McKinley who announced her as a record holder in June. While at the headquarters, the Nigerian chef reacted to the remarkable output of her challenger, remarking that she has “a lot of respect for Alan as I went through and know how difficult it is.”

It was indeed quite difficult after Chef Baci decided to give getting a world record title a shot. She had to do her cooking always in a standing position and this was strenuous. Her crown holding the record lasted for just five months, so the adjudicator asked her to give other endeavours a try but she did not want to “break any more records any time soon!”

Her record might have clocked up to 100 hours although it won’t have been enough to keep Alan Fisher from claiming the statistics that he holds for the time being. Around seven hours were removed from the total recorded time because “she mistakenly took extra minutes for one of her rest breaks early on in the attempt.”

Before ending her visit to London, Chef Baci made a monument of her name when she signed a plate that will be catalogued in the GWR’s cabinet of record-holder memorabilia. This is for visitors to have something interesting to look at when they arrive. A clip on Miss Baci’s Instagram captures some of the moments that was shared. That included the journey to the headquarters in a vehicle, her arrival and meeting with the staff for a friendly chat about her experiences.

She is quite aware of the significance of the invitation. So, she posted that the Guinness World Records “called and I pulled up”.

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A post shared by Hilda Baci (@hildabaci)

At home, fans are getting behind her to offer support as she has been a tool inspiring youths around the country. As soon as she completed her June challenge, it opened the flood gates letting through piles of possibilities and sheer will.

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.