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Car-packing, cup-stacking: Guinness Day exalts weird and wacky

A man running on all fours in Japan, 28 people jamming into a Mini Cooper in London, schoolchildren stacking cups across America and a man spinning a basketball on a toothbrush in Germany all shared a bond on Thursday.They were part of more than 420,000 people across the world participating in the eighth annual Guinness World Records Day. The event celebrates weird and wacky records set across th

A man running on all fours in Japan, 28 people jamming into a Mini Cooper in London, schoolchildren stacking cups across America and a man spinning a basketball on a toothbrush in Germany all shared a bond on Thursday.

They were part of more than 420,000 people across the world participating in the eighth annual Guinness World Records Day. The event celebrates weird and wacky records set across the globe, and encourages people to go for Guinness records.

By Thursday afternoon, 12 Guinness records had been set, another was still to be verified, and four more were to be attempted later in the day, according to a Guinness spokesperson. The records ranged from Kenichi Ito of Japan setting the 100-meter dash record for running on all fours with a time of 17.47 seconds to a record 28 people squeezing into a Mini in London to beat the previous record by one person.

Also in England, Manjit Singh lifted a record 52.91 pounds using both eye sockets. Meanwhile, Germany’s Michael Kopp, 18, set a record by spinning a basketball on a toothbrush for 26.078 seconds.

But most of the participants come from across the United States, where more than 400,000 children at schools across the country are trying to set the record for most people “sport stacking,’’ which involves stacking specialized plastic cups in certain sequences in the shortest amount of time.

In Pennsylvania, St. Joseph’s University is trying to do its school mascot proud by setting the record for most people simultaneously flapping their arms. The St. Joseph’s mascot, the Hawk, has been around for 56 years.

Two records already set by Americans entail pogo sticks. At Chelsea Piers in Stamford, Conn., Tone Staubs set the record for most pogo-stick jumps in a minute: 266. Staubs is an athlete in Xpogo, a new form of extreme sports that involves pogo sticks that have much more spring than the average pogo stick. Another Xpogo devotee, Michael Mena, set the record for highest forward-flip pogo-stick jump, at 8 feet.

Dani Maynard and her team managed to pack 28 people into a Mini, cramming four of them into the trunk.
Dani Maynard and her team managed to pack 28 people into a Mini, cramming four of them into the trunk.Guinness World Records

South Dakota resident Raul Meza is trying to set the record for the most martial arts kicks in one minute (previous record 335) and three minutes (616), as well as trying for the most full contact kicks in one hour by a team (20,494) with 50 of his karate students. He is hoping to raise money for the organization Feeding South Dakota with his feat.

“Guinness World Records Day is a chance to celebrate not just incredible individual achievements, but also civic and national pride," Guinness editor-in-chief Craig Glenday said in a statement. “Whether it’s a gathering of students flapping their arms to increase philanthropic awareness, squeezing into the ultimate British icon, the Mini, or an Aussie holding the longest note on the didgeridoo, this year it seems to be all about bringing records back home to the people who are most passionate about enjoying their culture and national identity.’’

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