3 new Guinness Records

Jamaica resident Ashrita Furman, 52, takes the old saying ‘records are meant to be broken’ to the next level.
Furman, who has set more than 150 official Guinness world records and currently holds the most records by an individual with 65, added to his total on Sunday, August 12 when he broke three more.
Furman set new records, which Guinness representatives have to verify, by doing 36 deep-knee-bends on a Swiss ball in one minute, throwing and catching a water balloon with a partner 74 feet, which shattered the previous record of 60 and his personal favorite, running a mile while bounce-juggling three balls - with zero drops. Furman utilized the track at Queens College for his final record finishing in a time of 9 minutes and 9 seconds.
“Nobody has ever done that before; it’s a new category that Guinness approved,” Furman told The Courier Sun. “Of all three I am most happy about this because I really think it’s going to catch on. I feel like I have established a new sport.”
While his interest in the Guinness book started when he was growing up in Kew Gardens, Furman said he was not an athletic kid and never imagined he would ever break a record - until he met his spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy.
After participating in meditations conducted by Chinmoy, Furman experienced an epiphany in 1978 while participating in a 24-hour bicycle race in Central Park and decided he wanted pursue a quest to break records.
Less than a year later, Furman began his record-breaking by setting a Guinness world record for most consecutive jumping jacks - 27,000, which was previously set at 20,000.
Since then, Furman has broken records on all seven continents, and has incorporated historical sites into his records. He has set a record for the fastest mile in a sack in Mongolia adding a touch of the country’s culture by racing a yak, time standing on a Swiss ball in Stonehenge and distance pogo stick jumping on Mt. Fuji.
While his most recent records are more fun, some of his records demand high levels of physical activity including the fastest mile pushing a 4,150-pound van, 900 jumps in one hour while underwater and the fastest mile while carrying a person of equal weight.
“It’s really all about pushing beyond your everyday normal capacity getting into a space where you can do superhuman things,” Furman said. “It’s so thrilling. That thrill doesn’t wear off for me.”
Although he considers the different record-breaking feats fun and challenging and has no plans of stopping his attempts anytime soon, he said he does not know if any of his records will last forever.
“I’ve learned there are no guarantees,” Furman said. “I really believe deeply that if someone else has done something, you can do it.”
Currently, Furman is also attempting to break a record that he previously held balancing 65-pint glasses on his chin, but he said the hot weather has thrown a wrench into some of his attempts.
While he hopes to break the record on a cooler day in New York, he already has his eyes set on a different site to break what he hopes is his new record - The Leaning Tower of Pisa.