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Duo sets disc golf world record in Rock Falls

There’s a new world record being sent into the Guinness Book of World Records and it comes from just east of the Quad Cities. A pair of lifelong friends f...

There's a new world record being sent into the Guinness Book of World Records and it comes from just east of the Quad Cities. A pair of lifelong friends from the south suburbs of Chicago have used their love of disc golf to make their mark on history.

Twenty-four hours, 1620 holes, plenty of pain, but a new world record.

Joe Duncan and Garry Murphy came to Nims Park in Rock Falls, Ill., to break the world record for disc golf holes played in 24 hours.

They did just that. They played 1620 holes which broke the old record by more than 300 holes.

"We slowly decided so we did research, we said it sounds interesting...and figured out we think we can do it and we weren't sure,” Duncan said. “We'd never done anything like this in our lives before so we just really didn't know what to expect."

"We kind of thought it would be really easy and so we kind of just started messing with the idea a little bit then we came to find out that it was actually a lot more difficult than we ever would have anticipated," Murphy said.

The record attempt wasn't all fun and games for the duo who have been friends since high school. They struggled with playing through the night as well as the severe physical toll 24 hours of play took on their bodies.

"For me, it’s my feet that have been pretty much torn up and general body soreness overall," Murphy said.

"The nighttime was the hardest,” Duncan said. “We definitely were getting a lot slower and it was hard. We lost some discs. We had some trouble just logistically."

The record isn't only exciting for Joe and Garry. It means a lot to the city of Rock Falls as well.

"It's always hard to get on the world map I guess is what we’re saying and Rock Falls has. These two gentlemen put Rock Falls on the world map," Mike Sterba, Rock Falls Director of Parks and Recreation, said.

Now that Joe and Garry have the record, they are able to look back with a lot of joy and accomplishment.

"No one's ever done this before so it's a little emotional and we figured out that we really enjoyed it even though it was a lot of pain and effort," Duncan said.

And they know their idea wasn't totally crazy.

"I think during the whole thing, yeah, I felt like I was a little bit nuts,” Murphy said. “But now that it’s over with and we've accomplished what we set out to do, the only thing I feel is pride about that. I don’t think it was totally crazy, maybe just a little bit crazy."

They have a great story and could soon have an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records. Joe and Garry will now send video evidence and officials' reports into Guinness. They hope their record will be verified and published in the book’s next edition as long as someone hasn't broken the record by then.

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