An Italian man and a Thai woman locked lips for 31 hours and 18 minutes, setting a new world record in a Valentine’s Day kissing marathon in Vicenza, northern Italy.
Andrea Sarti (37), a lorry driver, was so exhausted by the kiss that he had to be resuscitated with oxygen by a first aid team. Anna Chen (26) had to lie down.
The couple, from the coastal resort of Rimini, beat the previous record of 30 hours 59 minutes, set by an American couple in 2001.
The rules required the couple to remain standing throughout the kiss. They were not allowed to eat, drink or go to the toilet, and could communicate only by written or text messages.
Sarti was reported to have insisted on taking part in the competition for the â,¬10 000 prize for the money he needed to marry Chen. But as the kiss dragged on, Chen turned out to be the more enduring of the pair.
Sarti’s shoes had to be swapped for a pair of slippers while his girlfriend persevered in a pair of high heels, perched on a footstool to achieve the optimal kissing position.
Chen also had to massage her boyfriend, who suffered cramps in several places.
”It was really difficult,” Lucaino Gaggia, one of the organisers, told the Giornale di Vicenza. ”We didn’t think they could do it. Their secret was concentration … and the ability not to think about time passing.”
Meanwhile, in the Piazza Farnese in Rome, thousands of gay couples smooched simultaneously on Saturday night, in a 10-second mass-kiss.
Gay rights activists called on the government to stand up to the Vatican and give equal rights to Italy’s thousands of gay couples. — Guardian Unlimited Â