Pretoria’s Billy Cowley contests to feature in Guinness World Record books

A Pretoria east man who survived cancer is preparing to participate in the Guinness World Record contest.

After being diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer 13 years ago, and surviving the battle, Billy Cowley said he made it his life mission to make life more exciting and participating in the competition was one of his goals.

Cowley is set to eat 500g of Marmite in 60 seconds, to break a world record. He will be contesting against the German André Ortolf’s unbeaten record since 2018.

“It has always been my life-long dream to attempt one of the Guinness World Records. Growing up my mother always used to buy me the Guinness books and I was always fascinated by what people can do and admired them,” he said.

A financial advisor by profession, Cowley said he was taking part in the competition to motivate locals that anyone can compete in the world competition.

“Many people feel like the competition is only for people who live overseas and I wanted to take part so that many can see that’s not the case and it’s possible for us also,” he said.

“Many need to know that it’s not about being the fastest or being an athletic person to participate, there are so many things people can do just like the challenge I’m doing. I hope in me attempting to win the challenge will ignite the potential of many people.”

When he got accepted to participate in the competition, Cowley said it felt surreal and took a while to sink in.

“It took me some time to believe that I also stand a chance in the world competition,” he said.

“First, I was thinking of doing the farthest distance walking barefoot on Lego bricks challenge but I thought my feet were a bit soft. I think that many South Africans can win that challenge, especially those who live in the rural areas they always have challenges like that on their own.’’

On choosing the Marmite challenge, Cowley said he wanted something that would raise many people’s eyebrows.

“I will be eating the Marmite with a teaspoon and I cannot pick it up from the table, that is the trick of the challenge.’’

Cowley said he was aware of the health implications that come with the challenge as Marmite had high salt content.

“Consuming a lot of salt can lead to stroke or heart attack, that’s why I’ll be putting my finger down the throat after the challenge.’’

To prepare for the competition Cowley has been eating a teaspoon of Marmite a day for the past two months.

He will take on the challenge on the evening of Thursday, 29 October, in front of the Hennie’s Moreleta restaurant crowd.

“I hope it will be something that will get people to smile and get excited about, everyone has been going through a bit of a tough these past few months, due to the pandemic and I hope this challenge will get them excited. Even if I do not make it for this one, I will do other challenges.”