By Lindsay Doty
With the wind on her face and a sense of confidence that only comes with experience, Lori Keeton wakesurfed behind a boat along Raccoon Lake for eight straight hours on June 8, crushing a new Guinness World Record.
The 46-year-old Lizton resident more than tripled the previous women’s record that sits at two hours and 18 minutes and more than doubled the men’s record of three hours and 55 minutes.
“I only stopped at eight hours because the Guinness judge could only officially be a judge for eight hours,” said Keeton. “To go longer, I needed a second Guinness judge present. I underestimated how long I would surf.”
Keeton, a single mother of two and the owner of Floors For You in Brownsburg, has been surfing for 16 years and teaches the sport. She worked hard to get to this point.
“I had a vision. I planned it out, trained hard for three years, ate clean, overcame obstacles and did it,” an excited Keeton said.
The record-setting moment at Raccoon Lake (which Keeton calls her hometown lake) was accompanied by a crowd of supporters in Rockville.
“As I was surfing for the record, people lined the banks waving flags and cheering for me as I passed them,” she said.
She did 10.5 laps around the lake and surfed 89.6 miles.
Keeton is surfing for a cause, too. She’s fundraising for Wake For Warriors, a nonprofit that helps teach injured veterans how to do water sports.
“They have taught blind people, people with a prosthetic leg, no legs and many other disabilities to surf behind a boat,” she said.
It is 100% volunteers and all the donations go directly to the veterans. Help donate at wakeforwarriors.org.
Keeton is such a fan of the cause she’s getting certified next month to teach veterans in Indiana to surf behind her boat.