Wanaka, New Zealand attempts bra chain record

September 19, 2006

Wanakafest has attempted to break the world record for the longest bra chain. They fell short by 107,297 bras, but raised more than NZ$10,000 for the Breast Cancer Research Trust charity in the attempt to beat the record currently held by Cyprus. The record is 114,782 bras which was made on April 30 this year.

The bra chain, however, did manage to create a distance of 5 kilometers from 7,485 bras collected from all over the world over a period of six weeks. The bras included such places as United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Australia and from numerous places in New Zealand. 1,000 bras collected in North Hampton, England, courtesy of the BBC, did not count for the final tally. Three sacks full of bras, delivered complete with spiders, cob webs and cockroaches, from the world-famous Cardrona bra fence in Otago which farmer John Lee had to dismantle after council pressure earlier this year.

Wanakafest managed to collect $10,000 for charity by donations sent in with people's bras, bras previously owned by celebrities were auctioned on New Zealand auction site, TradeMe, community fundraisers and an art auction.

Kerry Quin, Wanakafest manager, said that she was "thrilled with how the community got behind the fundraiser. We have had so much support – not only from Wanaka locals, but also from throughout New Zealand. It's great to be able to give money to such a worthy cause."

The Wanakafest organisers are unsure what will happen to the bras collected but Ms Quinn has said that a Napier charity asked for them and were not told what the purposes for them were.

Quinn said: "Some were so tiny you wonder why they bother, and some so big you wonder how they walk!"