It is not a challenge for the faint of heart – or short of breath.
Nairn piper Andrew MacLennan played his pipes for a staggering 26 hours, 59 minutes and 7 seconds – and broke the previous word record by almost an hour.
Pending official confirmation, Mr MacLennan should now be recognised as taking the title from Rikki Evans from Portlethen in Aberdeenshire.
The piper started around 1.30pm on Thursday and reached the old world record shortly after 3.40pm yesterday in the traditional music venue Hootananny in Inverness.
At the exact moment he broke the record Mr MacLennan remained focused on his task and simply continued playing, although he celebrated during a five minute break shortly afterwards.
Speaking about the challenge Mr MacLennan said “it is very, very difficult. I have had some great support, lots of people here.”
Regarding what he plans to do when he finally stops he said “it means my pipes are going away for a few weeks” and “I am going to bed.”
Brian Yates, owners of Cabar Fèidh Bagpipe Supplies in the Victorian Market, has assisted with the attempt.
He said: “I couldn’t be more thrilled, extraordinarily proud of what he has achieved. At first I thought it is going to be an awfully tall order but around 10am I thought – he is actually going to do it.”
Mr Yates also worked hard to keep the fresh bagpipes ready in case any failed from overuse.
He said: “We had one slight problem, we had four pipes but one of the bags started leaking, it gave out and fortunately he made it to his 30 second break and we were able to throw him another set of pipes.
There to support Mr MacLennan was Hootananny proprietor Kit Fraser who said hosting the attempt was an “honour”.
Mr Fraser said: “He approached us as we are the supporters of Scottish traditional music and we said “yes, absolutely”.
“For Hootananny’s it is an honour to have the world record for longest bagpipe playing broken in our pub – it is a little bit of musical history.”
During the attempt he played for at least two minutes at a time, followed by a 30-second breather, and then a five-minute break every hour.
All money raised will be going to Highland Hospice, Maggie’s Cancer Care and Loch Ness Pipes and Drums.
