Durban monkey bar champion could be a record-breaker, his dad says

A Durban father is focusing his attention on a world record after his son demolished a monkey bar challenge held in Durban North at the weekend.

Seven-year-old William Basson’s jaw-dropping 527m feat saw him hanging and swinging from one monkey bar to another for 25 minutes without touching the ground.

On Saturday the Ocean View Montessori School learner smashed a monkey bar challenge held at the Adventure Obstacle Training facility in Durban North, dominating his peers and receiving heaps of praise from members of the public.

According to his father, Tom, 37, the course was designed as a 100m monkey bar challenge with his son completing it five times in one go.

"The challenge was to see how far you could go and each monkey bar was 50cm apart – once you fell off that would be your time and you would have three chances of bettering your score. There were various categories on the day which included men, women, children and elite," said Tom.

Tom said the furthest distance made on the day in the elite men’s category was 306m, completed by Redbull obstacle course racing (ORC) athlete Thomas van Tonder, and 200m in the elite women’s category.

"Before William had a go, the furthest distance made in the children’s category was 200m. My boy got up and, unbeknown to anyone, smashed every record on the day."

Speaking to TimesLIVE, William explained his emotions building up to his attempt.

"I felt a little bit scared almost because before I did the challenge, I thought it was going to hurt.

"My shoulders were sore and very bad rips on my hand afterwards, but I was very proud of myself," he said, much to the amusement of his dad.

Meanwhile, Van Tonder took to his Facebook Page on Sunday to express shock at what he had witnessed William accomplish.

"William went out and passed the 200m mark, after 300m he had people with cell phones following him up and down, after 400m I almost lost my mind... On 527m, his dad Tom Basson made him stop to protect his developing shoulders. He spent 25 minutes on the bars to achieve this, INSANE. I got to 306 ... not every day I get beaten by a 7-year-old," he wrote.

Tom said he was now in the process of finding out whether William broke the world record.

"I’m not too sure about the process of the Guinness World Record but I will be looking into it.

"We recently bought him a little Garmin watch and he averages about 18,000 steps a day. So for now, we’re just happy that he’s a happy, young and healthy kid," he said.