A large group of women and girls in Saudi Arabia have broken the Guinness World Record for the largest human awareness ribbon.

As many as 3,952 participants tied the pink knot in Jeddah’s Ministry of Education stadium and the attempt was submitted to the Guinness Book of Records for ratification.

This pink ribbon beats the previous world record, which was the Aids-hilfe ribbon, which consisted of 3,640 participants set in Frankfurt, Germany in 2007.

“I greatly appreciate all those who participated in forming the largest human awareness ribbon ‘pink ribbon’ and sharing my vision to eradicate suffering from breast cancer due to lack of awareness and early detection of the disease.  It was a pleasure to see women from all walks of life, expats and locals standing proudly shoulder to shoulder in sending this message out to the rest of the world. We have succeeded magnificently, thanks to the commitment of all who took part today,” said Princess Reema Bint Bandar Bin Sultan Al Saud, sponsor of ‘A Woman’s Stand’ breast cancer campaign.

She said: “This event will go down in history not only as an awareness of breast cancer but how women joined together for a common cause regardless of their colour, culture and profession.”

Before the attempt took place, booths dispensing information on breast cancer were available and were busy educating and distributing leaflets to all the attendees. 

The women, many carrying pink banners, were escorted into a crossover loop that symbolises the pink ribbon. Once the loop was formed and Guinness officials checked the number of participants in the loop and confirmed that the goal was achieved.

'The event was significant not simply for the new record and the profile it gives to breast cancer which, contrary to popular belief affects men nearly as much as women.  It was possibly the largest gathering at a women only event in the Kingdom and gave an opportunity for Saudi women to work together and help each other.' said a spokesperson. -TradeArabia News Service