Inked to exhaustion

By Bridget Brady
RAY Costolloe is sore, but not sorry that a world- record attempt for the longest tattoo session fell short last week.
The Cranbourne resident, along with tattoo artist Romano Pevec, made it 32 and a half hours into their session when Mr Pevec passed out from exhaustion.
The pair attempted to break the world record of just over 48 hours when they started at 11.30am last Wednesday to raise money for the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal.
They were allowed a five-minute break every hour, which could be accumulated.
Mr Costolloe, 42, said it was an emotional time at the Pride and Prejudice tattoo shop in Cranbourne, as the crowd egged on Mr Pevec.
“He (Mr Pevec) is a very good artist but once fatigue gets to you it’s very hard. It was just too much on the day,” Mr Costolloe said.
“It was very emotional. Near the end there we had 30 or 40 people in that little store cheering us on. It was seriously unbelievable.”
Mr Costolloe said he was proud of the achievement and wanted to thank the people who stayed at the shop to support him and Mr Pevec.
The father of three said he would return to get the tattoo of a portrait of his family completed at a later stage.
“They (family) are my life. You can’t do without them, simple as that.”
The idea for the record-breaking attempt arose when Mr Costolloe successfully endured a 10-hour tattoo session.
Mr Costolloe said his inspiration to raise money for the Good Friday Appeal arose because his son spent a week in the Royal Children’s Hospital when he was younger.
“I thought it was a chance to pay them back a bit.”
Money raised from the attempt was still being counted, Mr Costolloe said.