Sawing their way to glory. (source: TASR)
THE OFFICIAL Turzovské leto / Turzovka Summer culminated on August 18 and 19 with a series of traditional events, including the 41st year of the Beskydské slávnosti / Beskydy Festivities which brought, among other things, the twelfth edition of non-traditional Slovak records.
Vice-mayor of Turzovka (Žilina Region) Kamil Kobolka told the TASR newswire that the summer events were numerous and attracted many locals in addition to visitors from out of town.
Founder and commissioner of the Slovak Book of Records Igor Svítok stressed the importance of Turzovka as the capital of Slovak records. “In twelve years, more than 15,000 people have been involved in various record attempts,” he said.
The event also included the 8th annual Turzovka Film Festival, featuring a documentary of past unusual records. The audience got to revisit the 2002 record in manual wood-sawing, in which 800 people participated.
On August 18, 2012, ten years later, an attempt to break that record was held in the town’s pedestrian zone, and for 12 hours couples came to the stage to saw sections from 5-centimetre-wide logs, using a hand-saw.
Shortly after 21:30, the commissioner announced a new record, 1,295 participants in 12 hours – including some from the Czech Republic, Great Britain and Ohio, USA.
In the afternoon, married couple Adriana and Pavol Hoštáks from Martin were awarded the annual Rekordman roka / Record-man of the Year for successfully organising the meeting of twins and triplets in Valčianska dolina in June, joining seven other personalities represented in the Rekordman gallery at the town hall in Turzovka.
