Ashrita Furman
Ashrita Furman (born Keith Furman, September 16, 1954 in Brooklyn, New York)[1] has set more than 400 Guinness records since 1979 and currently holds 151 Guinness records.[2] He has set records on all seven continents and in more than 30 different countries. He has the official record for "The most current Guinness World Records held at the same time by an individual.[3][4]" (Marco Frigatti, Head of Records, Guinness Book of World Records)
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Life and records [edit]
Early life [edit]
Furman was born in 1954, the same year the Guinness Book of Records was conceived and the year Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile. Furman was fascinated with the Guinness Book of World Records as a child but never thought he could ever break a record, since he was very nonathletic. He grew up in the Kew Gardens Hills neighborhood in Queens, and attended Jamaica High School.[4][5]
That all changed when, as a teenager, Furman became interested in spirituality and in 1970 became a devout follower of the mystic Sri Chinmoy.[6] Chinmoy inspired Furman to participate in a 24-hour bicycle race in New York City's Central Park in 1978. With only two weeks' training, Furman tied for third place, cycling 405 miles (652 km). He later described the experience, “It was one of the most profound moments of my life. As I climbed off my bicycle, I realized that it wasn't my body that had cycled for 24 hours, but my inner Spirit. By using meditation I was able to connect with an inexhaustible energy which we all have but rarely use. At that moment I decided to attempt breaking Guinness records to inspire others to connect with their own indomitable inner strength.”[7] Around this time, Furman changed his first name to Ashrita (“protected by God [3]” in Sanskrit).[4]
First record [edit]
In 1979, Furman set his first official record by doing 27,000 jumping jacks. In 1986, Furman invented and set the record for underwater pogo stick jumping and introduced it on Good Morning America on April Fools Day. That same year Furman began setting records at historic landmarks by doing forward rolls along the entire 12 ¼ mile route of Paul Revere's Ride in Massachusetts and jumping 11 ½ miles up and down the foothills of Mount Fuji on a pogo stick.
Records around the world [edit]
Furman has managed a health food store in Jamaica, Queens, New York City,[8] New York since 1982. He is also a tour manager for his meditation group and is therefore able to travel extensively. Furman had set records in more than 30 countries and completed his goal of breaking a record in all 7 continents when he set the mile hula hoop record at Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock) in the Australian desert in 2003. Furman has also set records at such famous landmarks as the Egyptian pyramids (distance pool cue balancing), Stonehenge (standing on a Swiss ball), the Eiffel Tower (most sit ups in an hour), the Great Wall of China (hopping on a kangaroo ball), Borobudur (Fastest time to run a mile while balancing a milk bottle on the head) and Angkor Wat (jumping rope on a pogo stick). While in China, Furman broke the record for running 8 km (5 mi) on stilts, a record which had stood since 1892.
Creating new records [edit]
Furman has also been a pioneer in setting records in several new activities including landrowing. Using a converted indoor rower with wheels and brakes, Furman rowed 1,500 miles (2,400 km) in 16 days in Bali in 1991. Furman also developed the sport of gluggling, underwater juggling, which he did for 48 minutes at Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World in Auckland, New Zealand in 2002 and distance sack racing which Furman did for a mile while racing against a yak in Mongolia in 2007. On January 30, 2008, Furman unveiled his giant $20,000 pencil - 76 feet (23 m) long, 22,000 pounds (with 4,000 solid pounds of Pennsylvania graphite). The pencil was built in three weeks as a birthday gift for teacher Sri Chinmoy on 27 August 2007. Longer than the 65 feet (20 m) pencil outside the Malaysia HQ of stationers Faber-Castell, it was transported from Queens, New York, to the City Museum in St. Louis.[9]
“ I'm trying to show others that our human capacity is unlimited if we can truly believe in ourselves.[3] ”— Ashrita Furman
Partial list of recent records [edit]
| Record number | Event | Record | Location and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 283 | Juggling on a pogo stick, furthest distance [10] | 4 mi, 30 ft | Easter Island, January 2010 |
| 300 | Underwater juggling, longest duration [10] | 1 hr 19 min 58 sec | New York, March 2010 |
| 303 | Balancing eggs on end, most simultaneously [10] | 888 | New York, June 2010 |
| 307 | Piggyback running, fastest mile [10] | 12 min 47 sec | New York, July 2010 |
| 311 | Kangaroo ball racing, fastest mile [10] | 13:00 min | New York, August 2010 |
References [edit]
- ^ Ashrita Furman (www.imdb.com)
- ^ "New York News, Local Video, Traffic, Weather, NY City Schools and Photos - Homepage". NY Daily News. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
- ^ a b c "World champion record breaker Ashrita Furman aims to set another best in Brazil". The Telegraph. 2012.03.12. Retrieved 2012-11-25.
- ^ a b c "What drives a Guinness World Record holder?". Radio Times. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
- ^ Kilgannon, Corey. "Got Milk? Hula Hoop? It's a Record!; He's Guinness's King Of Strange Feats, All for Inner Peace", The New York Times, June 12, 2003. Accessed November 2, 2007.
- ^ "For a Record Seeker, No Idle Day". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
- ^ Private communication, 2007
- ^ "Wild World Records". ABC News. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
- ^ "metro.co.uk, 'World's biggest pencil' draws in a crowd". Metro (British newspaper). 2008-01-29. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
- ^ a b c d e "All Records". www.ashrita.com. Retrieved 2013-02-12.
Further reading [edit]
- Daniel Gilpin, "Record-breaking people 2012", New York PowerKids Press, c2012. ISBN 9781448852932
- Benjamin Fingerhut, "Breaking and enterting 2012", New York Virgil Films, c2012. ISBN 817976378
External links [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ashrita Furman |
