But four United Kingdom residents living in Christchurch and Timaru decided to complete the 2011 Motatapu marathon on Saturday, carrying and wearing ironing paraphernalia, all in the hopes of setting a world record.
Neil Long, Abi Smart, Paul Teed and Kathy Brook have now "unofficially" set a world record for "extreme ironing" after completing the marathon in six hours 24 minutes.
Mr Long told the Otago Daily Times he got the idea when his parents sent him a calendar full of extreme ironing pictures.
Mr Teed mentioned shortly after while having a few drinks he "wanted to set a world record while he was in New Zealand and the rest is history".
The group gave themselves ironing monikers for the race - Squirter (Mr Long), Short Cord (Mr Tweed), Collar and Cuffs (Ms Smart) and The Socket (Ms Brook) - and equipped themselves appropriately.
Mr Long carried an iron board strapped to his back for the entire race, while Mr Tweed carried an iron and a shirt.
Extreme Ironing is dubbed an extreme sport or performance art and requires people to take an ironing board to a remote location and iron pieces of clothing.
The Extreme Ironing Bureau has photographs of people ironing items of clothing under water, in a bog, on Mayan temples and on rock pillars, among other places.
While the group had not been officially recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records, it had broken the record, and Saturday's effort would be included in the Universal Database of Records and the Extreme Ironing Bureau, Mr Long said.
