When Dunedin’s Baldwin Street lost its title as the steepest residential street in the world in 2019 – Toby Stoff went to great lengths to keep it in the record books.
First measured in 1985, the Otago stretch of road was officially recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records two years later.
It became a city attraction for runners heading up on it, Jaffa lollies rolling down on it, and brought the daredevils to Dunedin for decades.
But in 2019, the street was toppled. Record keepers gave the title to a road in a small Welsh Village – but Stoff wasn’t having it.
Seven years on, he told 1News that seeing the Dunedin street dethroned felt like "an alarm bell went off".
“I was like, that’s just wrong, and I thought it’s just one of those things, you can grizzle about it or do something about it.”
When asked if he felt people were behind his cause at the time, Stoff gave a true Kiwi response: "Yeah nah 100%."
Stoff said the Welsh had "spotted a loop hole" and they had "measured on the inside where it was much steeper" but "ignored what happens over the rest of the carriageway".
He explained "two cobbers of mine" had asked if they got a funding page going, would he go over and measure it.
“It’s geometry, it’s engineering rules, there’s a gradient… this is the sort of thing I do on a daily basis. Like I go and I can measure streets and design streets.”
So, that’s exactly what he did.
“We just sort of 'stealthed' in… and we didn’t tell anyone.”
After making the trip and taking the measurements, nine months later, Guinness agreed, and New Zealand’s title was officially restored.
Stoff now has a plaque at the top of one of Dunedin’s most famous streets, which keeps pogo stick record-holders company.
He’s also feeling pretty confident he will never face a fight like this again.
"I doubt there would be many steeper than Baldwin Street… it’s hard to imagine isn’t it? She’d be a white-knuckle sleigh ride down the thing."
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