His sleep-defying feat, which aimed not only to break records but also to raise funds for the student charity initiative Ikhaya Losizo, began at 7am on Monday September 18. At 2pm on Wednesday, he broke the South African record of 55 hours, which was held by Tuks FM DJ Stavros Yiannakis.

The world record is currently held by Italian Stefano Venneri who managed a massive 125 hour broadcast earlier this year.

We caught up with Robin last week, with 79 hours under his belt, and chatted about in-studio showering, the perils of sleep deprivation and what he plans to do the minute this crazy ordeal is over.

iafrica: What on earth made you embark on such a crazy venture?

Robin: Earlier this year Mark Gilman did it for 25 hours with his whole breakfast team and then later one of the guys from our own station tried to go for a little longer. I thought, hey, I wonder what the world record is and so I wrote to them and they sent me all the information... I thought, hey, it?s worth a try, why not? Clearly there wasn?t a lot of thought process going on.

iafrica: How are you managing to stay awake?

Robin: It?s been extremely difficult, especially between 3am and 7am. There has been an overwhelming public response and people are in the studio all day, but when it hits about 3am it fizzles out and everyone goes home except the two independent witnesses, the official and the first aid person ? it is very difficult then.

iafrica: Have you been drinking a lot of coffee?

Robin: No, I haven?t had any coffee, red bull or anything with caffeine in it. It?s a really long haul so I don?t want my levels to spike and then drop. My doctor gave me some vitamins, not stimulants or anything, just something to keep my health up.

iafrica: Has the cabin fever set in? Have you been allowed out of the studio at all?

Robin: I get a 15 minute break every eight hours. I can go out of the studio but not out of the building ? there isn?t a shower so I haven?t been able to shower all week. There is a basin though, where I can top and tail...

iafrica: Do you know if you?ve been able to raise any money for the Ikhaya Losizo project?

Robin: Ja, that wasn?t a secondary thing, it was one of the reasons for doing this. This is one of the most attempted records, so I won?t really be that disappointed if it gets broken, but I would really like to raise some money.

So far the response has been pretty disappointing. We checked how much money had been raised by the time I broke the South Africa record and it was only R385 ? that works out to something like R7 an hour. Since then it has improved and is close to R2000. My friend?s mom in Joburg is sponsoring me R5 for every hour.

iafrica: What has been the biggest obstacle so far?

Robin: Overcoming the 3am to 7am sessions. From now on friends are going to come and sit with me during that time because it is becoming really difficult and it is also really emotional. Oh, and I don?t have a very big bladder, so it is extremely uncomfortable to not pee for eight hours.

iafrica: How do you feel right now? Do you think you?re going to make it?

Robin: Right now, I?m feeling good because there are lots of people around. It?s quite scary though ? I can?t remember about three hours from this morning, but I am getting a second wind now.

iafrica: What is the first thing you are going to do when you finish?

Robin: Honestly, I don?t know... have a shower!