The village of Brezna, in Montenegro, recently held the 12th annual edition of its “Lying Down Championship”, an unusual competition where the end goal is to spend as much time lying down as possible. It sounds easy enough, but as time passes by, your bones and muscles start to ache, your limbs go numb, and you just feel the need to get up and stretch. This year, the champion managed to lie down for about 60 hours.
“It was not difficult. Believe me, I didn’t even warm up,” Žarko Pejanović, known as “Knele” told reporters.
Pejanovic competed against nine other people, lying down on the ground in a local park. Everyone was allowed to bring things like phones and books to keep themselves occupied as they lay on the ground, but one by one they started getting up, until only two people were left – Žarko Pejanović from Zabjela and Vuk Koljenšić from Danilovgrad.
At one point, the two competitors started joking about splitting the title of champion, but Pejanovic was determined to bring home the title of 12th Lying Down Champion, and after about 60 hours, he remained the last one lying down.
60 hours sounds like a long time, but you should know that a few years back a new rule was implemented which allows competitors to visit the toilet every eight hours. That definitely makes things a lot easier, and was one of the key factors that allowed a woman named Dubravka Aksic to set the world record by spending four days and 21 hours lying flat on her back. Before the toilet break rule was adopted, the world record for lying down continuously was 52 hours.
The Lying Down Championship was reportedly created by a man named Radoje Blagojevic to poke fun at the stereotype that Montenegrins are lazy. For winning this year’s edition, Žarko Pejanović takes home a cash prize of 350 euros ($350), a lunch for two at a restaurant, a weekend stay in the ‘Montenegro’ ethnic village, and a rafting experience. But most importantly, he gets bragging rights for the rest of his life.
Bizarrely enough, Montenegrin media recently reported that shortly after being declared the winner of this unusual competition, Žarko Pejanović was taken into custody by police for allegedly physically attacking journalists and damaging the headquarters of a newspaper that called him “the biggest swindler in all of Montenegro”. Now, what could that have been about?
