Auckland teenager, Zac Macfarlane, has spent the last two-and-a-half years creating his own rubberband ball with the assistance of OfficeMax.

Now he has asked the retailer to help with the weighing of his work as he sets his sights on creating the country’s largest.

“It looked like a fun and challenging project, and was something I could have a laugh about with my friends,” Zac said. Zac said that the idea was sparked when he saw the current world record holder on television, which encouraged him to create his own.

“I underestimated the number of rubber bands that would be required to achieve such a feat so I got in touch with OfficeMax through the local hardware store my dad works at and asked if there were any they could spare.

“Because part of its logo is a rubberband ball I thought they would definitely have some,” he said.

Zac’s ball weighed in at 23.15kg at last measurement and he is still going strong.  The current world record is 4,000kg or 700,000 rubberbands but no official record has yet been set in New Zealand.

General Manager for Education at OfficeMax, Suzanne Flannagan, said that the company is pleased that OfficeMax sprung straight to mind and is happy to be involved in Zac’s project.

 “OfficeMax team members have been sourcing and supplying rubber bands to help the ball grow and we recently had Zac visit with us to weigh and measure the ball as his scales at home can't cope with the weight of the ball,” Suzanne said.

“While slow and steady might win the race, we’ll certainly join in the celebration when he achieves his goal,” she said.