Guinness World Records have been keeping track of record-breaking feats for more than 60 years. In that time there have been many wild and wacky entries and some astonishing achievements. We can’t hope to cover the majority of these in this space, but we have picked out some of the more notable records to have been broken (so far) .
Some of 2018’s record breakers are pretty specific. For example, the fastest half marathon run by somebody dressed as a gingerbread man. Just in case you’re interested, this particular record was broken by Ian Pickett , when he clocked the impressive time of 1 hour 29 minutes in the Great North Run in Newcastle. Similar ‘sporting’ achievements include the fastest bicycle wheelie over 100 metres (completed in 10.86 seconds) and the furthest distance walked whilst balancing a power mower on one’s chin (managed by New Yorker Ashrita Furman in January).
When it comes to Guinness Worlds Records attempts bigger is very often better. Like the biggest ever online gambling pay-out set by Lottoland when they wrote a cheque for a staggering €90 million ($103M USD) for one lucky lottery winner. The winner of that jackpot could certainly afford the largest commercially available pizza if she was feeling peckish. That belly-busting pie clocks in at 1.98 metres squared, which should be more than enough to sate the biggest of appetites.
Records featuring food and drink make up another popular category of world-beaters. Like the $100 milkshake which features ingredients like Madagascar vanilla beans and 23 karat edible gold, for example. Some less delicious eating and drinking records include the 25.37 seconds taken to drink a bottle of ketchup and the 13.85 seconds required to neck a 200ml glass of mustard. Or if you are looking for a quick injection of protein you could try to beat the record of 7 raw eggs being cracked and eaten in 30 seconds. A tastier snack might be the 53 pieces of candy-covered popcorn thrown and caught in the mouth in a minute, with the multi-talented Ashrita Furman and his friend Bipin Larkin the holders of this record.
There is also that section of 2019 world records which requires a little help from some friends. Like the largest human maple leaf made up of 1,589 people which was achieved in Canada, appropriately enough. If you can get together with another 1,080 sword-carrying friends then you can beat the record for the most people dancing with swords. Or you could try to organise a race to beat the 1,346 people who ran 1km in thong sandals in North Carolina.
Some world records are just so plain crazy that there should be an award with coming up with them in the first place. Whose idea was it to make an attempt on the record for how long it would take a goat to clamber over a human tunnel, for example? Or to try to set a new mark for the number of Rubik’s cubes solved on a caster board (the score to beat is 151, if you’re interested). If you fancy getting your name in that famous book, then why not think up your own record attempt for 2018? The year’s not over yet!