Every year, the Guinness World Records offers people the opportunity to secure their place in history through wild and wonderful ways. You have to admit, getting your name listed in this world-famous book of records would surely be an uplifting feeling. This year, too, despite everything that has been going on, the Guinness World Records has showcased some remarkable men, women, children, and their wacky feats.
Today, we will look at some of the wildest Guinness World Records broken in 2020 so far. From the world’s deepest underground concert to a 62-year-old man who held an 8-hour plank, these are some incredible achievements, indeed.
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Attending a concert can be such a thrill, right? But have you ever attended an underground concert? The Shaft Bottom Boys, a music band from Canada, performed a 50-minute set down in the Vale's Creighton Mine in Sudbury, Ontario, in March this year as part of a fundraising effort. The mine is 1,893.8 meters (6,213 ft 3.05 in) below sea level and this performance earned them the title for the “deepest concert underground”.
Almost 50 people attended this unique concert, including mine workers. The band members and the audience wore full protective gear before going down into the mine. And we're glad to report that it didn’t deter them from having a blast throughout the performance.
Image source: Guinness World Records/ YouTube
Do you love tomatoes? We bet you don’t love them as much as Leah Shutkever. She broke the world record for the most tomatoes eaten in one minute by eating 8 of them whole in the allotted time. Leah, who hails from England, is known to be a competitive eater and has won many titles in the field of competitive eating.
Math isn’t an easy subject to conquer but it comes easily for 10-year-old Nadub Gill from Pakistan. The boy set a remarkable Guinness world record as the fastest mathematician on Times Tables Rock Stars – an app that challenges students to answer as many multiplication and division questions as they can in one minute. 700 children participated in the competition and Nadub came out on top by answering 196 multiplication and division questions correctly in just one minute. That’s three answers every second!
"I am very thrilled and excited to achieve this title. It is like a dream," Gill told Guinness World Records. "I am thankful to my school and my teachers, who encouraged me to attempt this record. They encouraged me a lot and I think they have played a big role in my success."
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Planking is one of the most effective exercises one can do. It is, however, also quite strenuous as it puts pressure on your biceps, neck, and shoulder muscles. If you can hold a plank for 60 seconds or more, that is considered strong. However, 62-year-old George Hood, a retired police officer and now a personal trainer, has broken the world record for the longest plank by holding it for a whopping 8 hours! He wasn’t just doing this to achieve fame, though. Through his feat, George wanted to help raise awareness for mental health. He had broken this record for the first time in 2011 but lost it a few years later before reclaiming it now.
"There are times you get self-doubt. You get bored. You wonder if it's worth anything," Hood was quoted as saying to the media. "Cleaning up people's mindset is a must ... as every human invents themselves through a figment of their imagination and their thinking."
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Image Source: Guinness World Records/ YouTube
Amber Fillary from South Africa dove under 13.4 inches (34 cm) of ice in Oppsjø, Norway, and swam for 229.659 feet (70 meters) in February this year to clinch the title for "the longest swim under ice, breath held (no fins, no diving suit) female”. Imagine swimming under those icy waters without any diving suit! Brr!!!
A group of determined British soldiers from the 3 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps pulled a van weighing about 4,000 pounds (1,814 kg) through Blenheim Palace, Oxford, in England, in March this year. 12 soldiers took part in pulling the vehicle and kept switching on and off every 10 to 20 minutes. After 12 hours, the team had been able to pull the huge van for 47.46 miles (76.3 km), and earned the title "the farthest distance pulling a vehicle in 12 hours."
"It's been emotional," Captain Jonathan Kinahan of 3 Regiment RLC told Guinness. "It's been a lot more difficult than I think we originally thought it would be. It was hard, it was dark, it was cold, it was miserable. So yeah, it's been a long night ... As for the van, I never want to see it ever again."
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When Cat Dixon and Raz Marsden left England in June 2019 on their tandem bike, they had only one goal to achieve – to make the fastest bike trip around the world. It took them 263 days, 8 hours and 7 minutes,18,263 miles (29,391 km), and a trip across 25 countries, but the pair eventually broke the world record.
"We have highlights from every country that we visited and would definitely return to see many— although maybe at a slower pace," Dixon and Marsden said in a joint statement.
The journey wasn’t easy for the two women as they had to endure monsoons, heatwaves, and the possibility of borders closing down amidst the coronavirus outbreak. However, their spirit ultimately triumphed.
"We just got on with it and loved it all. It was important to keep laughing, and we did," they said.
Cover Image Source: Aaron Thompson/YouTube
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