A southern Albertan woman beat her own world record for longest plank held by a woman, lasting a whopping five-hours at the opening ceremonies of the Huntsman World Senior Games held in St. George, Utah, on Tuesday evening. DonnaJean Wilde, a retired teacher from Magrath, set her first world record for longest plank hold back in March 2024 in front of her hometown crowd, with the time of 4 hours, 30 minutes and 11 seconds. Reflecting on her accomplishment she says she was so anxious to celebrate with her family and loved ones, she wondered if she could’ve gone longer. “I was ready to quit, I absolutely was, but I thought, ‘Could I have gone five hours if I wasn’t so excited to get off that platform and hug them?’” Six months ago, Wilde was invited to meet with Kyle Case, chief executive officer of the Huntsman World Senior Games, to talk about doing something to make the opening ceremonies extra fun — and what’s more fun than breaking records at a sports competition? While she has always been into fitness, Wilde wasn’t into planking until around 2013 when she broke her wrist while in the gym with her students. During this time, she was really missing the ability to stay active, when one of her kids suggested a plank challenge. To her surprise a plank was the one thing she could still do while in a cast. She was so excited to be able to do something active she decided to do it every day before school, and would keep herself occupied by reading on her phone. By the time her wrist healed, planking had become part of her life. She would do it while she was reading, listening to music and even while she was making her lesson plans. “The years just went by and I didn’t stop; I just kept planking until I could really plank for a big chunk of time, like an hour and a half to two hours.” She even wrote a book titled “From Minutes to Hours,” which she wrote all while in the plank position. On the stage Tuesday, Wilde was allowed to have her phone, where she received encouragement from family, she was able to watch her favourite movie “Sing,” and there were also rehearsals going on, which Wilde says she thoroughly enjoyed. “It was so wonderful because during the afternoon, before the opening ceremonies, there was rehearsals going on, people were singing and dancing, practising drumming for the performance that night and so it was helping the time go by.” The most challenging part for Wilde were the last 15 minutes, where she didn’t think she could make it to the five-hour mark, but the crowd cheering her on gave her strength to reach her goal. “I didn’t think I could do it,” says Wilde. “I knew I’d broken my own record, but I did not have the strength to keep going those last 15 minutes ... but them calling my name ‘DonnaJean, DonnaJean, you can do it,’ ... meant so much to me because I wanted to see that five so bad.” She says this moment of success wasn’t just for her; it was for everyone who’s supported her along the way. “For everybody there, for those who worked so hard to organize everything for us, my kids and grandkids all cheering me on from home, I wanted to do it so bad and it was a great feeling.” Wilde says she is done beating records at planking — for the time being — however she missed reaching a goal of 1,600 push-ups in an hour when she dislocated her shoulder with two minutes left, so she may still attempt to break one more. In the meantime, Wilde encourages everyone to chase their dreams — even she started only being able to hold a plank for one minute. “You can do amazing things,” she said. “If it’s a thought and it’s a dream, there’s no holding you back, and along the way you’ll just learn from the people around you.” Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lethbridge Herald
