I must admit I pay little attention to the “Completes” aspect of the SOTA awards programme. I do note that some people are very keen on it through their comments on this reflector - “I’ll be waiting for you as I need that one for a Complete” etc.
Browsing through the fabulous new SOTA Database pages (thank you Andrew @VK3ARR - great job!), I happened to notice that Bredon Hill G/CE-003 only became a SOTA Complete for me on New Year’s Eve 2022. I first activated it over 18 years earlier! Can anyone beat that?
I am far from convinced of the integrity of this data. I was certain I had chased, indeed had S2S QSOs to Bredon Hill already in my log. Several times over. Which suggests (to me) that I might have failed to enter the chase/S2S side of such contacts in the past.
Anyway - as it stands - 6762 days between the activated date and the chased date for a Complete!
It does however neatly illustrate the point that the record can be claimed by any activator who is patient enough to hold off visiting long enough after a chase!
Perhaps therefore the data is only really comparable when looking at completes where the activation preceded the chase…?
There are probably some first-time activators of very remote summits or technically challenging summits (e.g. Alpine peaks) who will not get the complete.
Thinking Kurt, HB9AFI might beat your record, I quickly checked the SOTA DB:
Kurt “unfortunately” only manages 6336 days (excl. end date), hi.
He activated Planachaux SOTLAS on 17.10.2005 and chased/completed on 21.02.2023.
