André Belibi Eloumou (France) spent over four hours in an ice bath, breaking the Guinness World Records title for longest duration full body contact with ice (male). He broke this record almost a year ago today, but as we near the end of Autism Acceptance Month, we want to take this opportunity to highlight an Officially Amazing story that supported an important cause. André — who is a certified extreme athlete, mindset coach and personal trainer — decided to take on this challenge to raise awareness about autism. The cause is close to his heart because his daughter, Kira, is on the autism spectrum. In his record-breaking endeavour, which was attempted at the Servus Calgary Marathon Runners’ Expo in Canada, he was supporting Autism Canada. “I wanted to do this for my daughter,” he told us. “I really wanted to prove that when you have a good cause in mind, you can do all things.” While breaking the record, André had to face many more challenges beyond just being in freezing cold temperatures for a prolonged period of time. A mere 25 minutes into his four-hour-long attempt, a thunderstorm approached. “The attempt was almost shut down because the lightning strikes were getting close,” André said. Despite the danger, André kept calm and continued his attempt. This was the moment he trained for, for almost four years.
André was probably this centred and grounded in a high-pressure record-breaking environment because of his training regime. It was a strategic effort, in which he extended his regular ice bath in increments of time. First by a minute and a half, then by four minutes, then by seven and so on. “Within the mind, within the body, within yourself, within your soul - that’s how you can activate that infinite potential to push yourself,” he said. This is not the first time the French athlete has undertaken an extreme challenge for a greater purpose. In 2020, he ran 4,500 kilometres (2,796.17 miles) across the US for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). His father was an immigrant and his journey from Cameroon to France took him three years and covered around 3,200 kilometres (2,000 miles). Inspired by this, in 2018, André ran from Normandy, France to Rabat, Morocco.