us with records about
superpowers – political
ones, that is! – on p.146,
and comic-book experts
Rob Cave and TQ Jefferson
supplied superlatives
regarding the other kind
of superpowers – those
possessed by fictional
superheroes, which you’ll
find throughout the feature
chapter starting on p.88.
Also joining the team this
year is Star Wars historian
James Burns – you’ll
find his records not too
far, far away on p.- and James Proud,
who has unearthed
some incredible
records associated
with transhumanism
and cyborgs (p.74).
Thanks are also
due to the Fédération
Aéronautique Internationale
(FAI) for providing us with
air sports records (p.138),
and to box-office analyst
Bruce Nash at The Numbers
for all the statistical records
from the movie industry.
Other new topics this
year include wildfires (p.28),
Rubik’s Cubes (p.120), emojis
(p.152) and fireworks (p.194) - proof, if it were needed,
that Guinness World Records
covers a wider range of
Editor’s Letter
INTRODUCTION
There were a total of 8,196 applications from North America this year:
7,488 from the USA and 708 from Canada.SKECHERS PERFORMANCE LOS ANGELES MARATHON
The LA Marathon was set up in 1986, prompted by the
success of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, which were
held in the city. On 19 Mar 2017, Kevin Odle (USA) ran the
fastest marathon dressed as a tennis player (male)
in 3 hr 44 min 52 sec. Jerry Knox (USA) took just over five
minutes longer to complete the fastest marathon wearing
lederhosen: 3 hr 50 min.
On the day, Craig Handy and Lawrence Pitkin (both USA) set
new records for the fastest marathons as a swimmer and as
a fast-food item respectively, although both these records
have since been broken. All four are shown above, while
below we list three more records set at the marathon.TALLEST STACK OF TORTILLAS
On 10 Mar 2017, Ben Leventhal – with the support of multi-
platform media company Mashable (both USA) – created
a 58.03-cm (22.85-in) pile of Freeb!rds World tortillas. The
record attempt took place at Mashable House at the SXSW
festival in Austin, Texas, USA, and was performed live during
Mashable’s Twitter show. Leventhal is a co-founder of Resy,
a mobile app for making restaurant reservations, and the
food blog network Eater.LARGEST BANNER FLOWN BY A VEHICLE
On 19 Nov 2016, Ford Motor Company (USA) flew
a 383.18-m^2 (4,124.51-sq-ft) US flag at the Ford
Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway
in Florida, USA. The banner was around three-quarters
the size of a basketball court, or one-and-a-half times
the size of a tennis court. The giant Stars and Stripes
was trailed behind a Ford F450 Crew Cab.FASTEST MARATHON
Dressed... TimeHolder
In pyjamas
(male)3 hr 44 min 55 secFred Perez (USA)As a three-
dimensional bird5 hr 31 min 5 sec Jean-Baptiste
Bourdu (FRA)
As a boxer 3 hr 4 min 57 sec Christian Aarstad Odgaard
(NOR)the -ests from the -ists” –
that is, sourcing the fastest,
tallest, oldest and longest
from the archaeologists,
gerontologists,
meteorologists and
zoologists. I’d like to say a
personal thank you to all of
our experts – we couldn’t
do it without you.
For this edition,
we welcome
on board some
new consultants
for topics we’ve
never covered before,
or at least never in such
detail. Ian Sumner, for
example, is the librarian
of the Flag Institute
and has provided the
new flag records
on p.154. Warren
Dockter, from
the Department
of International
Politics at
Aberystwyth
University, suppliedA dozen
volunteers
held the flag while
the driver drove away,
letting it unfurl without
touching the ground.
The^ record was achieved
on a closed course
before the raceway
opened to
the^ public.