Sydney dream pop duo Fathom recently attempted a
Guinness World Records title by performing nine shows in just 12 hours across New South Wales and Canberra.
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Fathom → attempt → Wales
For this, vocalist Cate Guirguis and keyboardist Jaxon Italiano travelled from Singleton to Newcastle, Gosford, Sydney, Penrith, Lithgow, Bathurst and Goulburn before reaching Canberra for their final performance.
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Guirguis → travel → performance
The challenge required the duo to perform at least nine shows, with each show lasting at least 15 minutes, ABC news reported.
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news → require → minutes
The venues also had to be at least 50 kilometres apart and located in areas with populations of more than 15,000.
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venues → have → 15,000
At least half of those areas had to have populations of 100,000 or more.
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half → have → more
Fathom used a tour bus for most of the journey, but the route also involved a helicopter, a car and a plane.
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route → use → helicopter
They nearly failed at their goal several times because of delays during the journey.
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They → fail → journey
However, the duo managed to reach their final venue in Canberra and completed their 15-minute set with only 15 seconds left on the clock.
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duo → manage → clock
"It was right down to the wire," Italiano recalled, as quoted by ABC news.
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Italiano → recall → news
Traffic and a missing helicopter
The first major delay came in Sydney.
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delay → miss → Sydney
Italiano said he had expected traffic between Sydney and Penrith to be one of the biggest challenges of the day.
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traffic → say → day
An accident on the M4 caused delays, making the journey slower than expected.
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journey → cause → delays
The bigger problem came after the Penrith show.
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problem → come → show
Fathom had arranged a helicopter flight over the Blue Mountains to get to Lithgow.
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Fathom → arrange → Lithgow
The flight was planned to help them avoid the closure of Victoria Pass.
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them → plan → Pass
But when Guirguis and Italiano arrived at the helicopter base, their scheduled helicopter was not there.
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helicopter → arrive → base
"We needed to board the helicopter by 5.10 pm because they wouldn't fly after sunset.
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they → need → sunset
But then we got there early and there was no helicopter there," Guirguis said.
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Guirguis → get → ?
They received a call from the company's head office informing them that the helicopter was being used to help extinguish bushfires in the Blue Mountains.
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helicopter → receive → Mountains
"Then we got a call back from the lady at head office, and she was saying that they were out extinguishing bushfires in the Blue Mountains, which is a fair enough excuse," Italiano said.
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Italiano → get → Mountains
The delay lasted about 30 minutes and Fathom eventually took the helicopter to Lithgow and continued with the next part of the challenge.
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Fathom → last → challenge
Plane problem added to delay
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problem → add → delay
The journey became difficult again when the duo travelled from Bathurst to Goulburn.
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duo → become → Goulburn
They had arranged a chartered plane for this part of the trip, but even getting to the flight became a problem.
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getting → arrange → flight
"Firstly we went to the wrong terminal," Guirguis said.
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Guirguis → go → terminal
Once they were ready to leave, another problem appeared.
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problem → leave → ?
Italiano said the plane's right propeller stopped working as they were taking off.
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they → say → ?
"As soon as we were taking off, the right propeller stopped working," he said.
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he → take → ?
The pilot then upgraded the pair to a jet.
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pilot → upgrade → jet
Our pilot upgraded us to a jet which was fantastic and a lot safer," Italiano said.
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Italiano → upgrade → jet
The problem had put the duo about an hour behind schedule.
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problem → put → schedule
They still had to reach Canberra, set up and perform their final show before the 12-hour period ended.
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period → have → show
The final road trip went more smoothly.
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trip → go → ?
Guirguis said they encountered green traffic lights all the way to Canberra.
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they → say → Canberra
"We just had green lights all the way to the venue," she said.
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she → have → venue
After arriving, the pair went straight on stage and performed their final 15-minute set.
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pair → arrive → set
"Cate and I jumped on stage, pumped out a 15-minute set," Italiano said.
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Italiano → jump → set
The countdown showed how close the attempt had become.
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attempt → show → ?
"We had a look at the countdown, there was only about 15 seconds," he said.
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he → have → countdown
Fundraising for Beyond Blue
The record attempt was also linked to a fundraising effort for mental health charity Beyond Blue.
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attempt → link → Blue
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
