Don’t hold your breath! Unless it’s for a good cause.

Today in Rawai Phuket, a rather unusual challenge took place with Krix Luther, founder of Clean The Beach Boot Camp, Phuket taking to the water in an attempt to hold his breath underwater. For 10 minutes!

The purpose of the challenge was to raise funds, through sponsorship, for the Clean The Beach Boot Camp now in its 4th year. The CBBC has up to 40 – 100 volunteers cleaning up one of Phuket’s beaches every two weeks. Over the past two years the groups has cleared hundreds of tonnes of rubbish off our beaches and made a big dent in the rubbish problem. For their efforts they also get a free workout with one of the island’s leading health practitioners.

After some pre-preparation, which included meditation, Krix took to the water surrounded by safety experts and friends, all on-hand to offer guidance and much needed safety support.

The event was streamed live on Clean The Beach Boot Camp Facebook page.

During the challenge, two safety officials were on hand in the pool, ensuring that Krix was in no danger at any stage.

After an astonishing 12 minutes, Krix successfully and triumphantly completed the challenge, a whopping two minutes beyond what he’d planned and trained for.

After returning to the surface, Krix said he felt great and was very happy with what he had achieved.

Just for comparison, the world record for holding your breath underwater is 22 minutes and 22 seconds. In 2012, German freediver Tom Sietas held his breath underwater, besting Dane Stig Severinsen’s previous Guinness record by 22 seconds.

Congratulations to Krix and the support team for an amazing effort. If you’d like to know more about the Clean The Beach Boot Camp click HERE for more information.

NOTE: DO NOT try this on your own or without proper medical supervision.

STORY & PHOTOS: Colin Gallagher