Longest
distance pushing a car-world record set by Ashrita Furman
[April
3] NEW YORK, US--Ashrita Furman, a 53-year-old New Yorker
pushed a Ford Festiva more than 17 miles in a little over
six hours, breaking the World Record for the Longest distance
pushing a car.
"It went great," Furman said. "I pushed
the entire time."
(enlarge
photo)
The
car-pushing record seemed a logical choice, Furman said, because
he already holds the record of pushing a 4,000-pound van for
the fastest mile - 21.8 minutes, to be exact.
The previous record was just under 12 miles.
It is required that the car pushing
be done on a completely flat loop track, so the effort required
is equal for each potential record-breaker to try it.
This newest achievement adds to the list
that makes Furman holder of the most Guinness Records. He
holds 80 current records, and has set a total of 187 since
he started in his 20s.
Furman credits the practice of meditation
for allowing him the ability to break so many world records.
He said it all started when he decided to compete in a bicycle
marathon at the age of 23. After training for less than twoweeks,
he made it over 400 miles in 24 hours and came in third.
In 1979, Furman broke his first Guinness record,
doing 27,000 jumping jacks in five hours. "It was all connected
with the meditation, because I was not good at sports as a
kid," Furman said. "In fact, I was more of a nerd. This has
nothing to do with my body. It has everything to do with my
spirit."
The Jamaica, Queens, resident and owner
of Guru
Health Foods has achieved his records in just about
every part of the world. In Guatemala, Furman stilt-walked
a mile in less than eight minutes. In Turkey, he balanced
a 54-foot pole on his chin. In England, he jumped a mile on
a pogo stick in 12 minutes. And the list goes on.
Many of Furman's records require a large
measure of physical endurance, like the one he considered
his greatest challenge- doing forward rolls for a 12-mile
distance. "The unofficial rule is, they have to be continuous,
but you can stop to throw up," Furman said. "I had four slices
of pizza the night before. . . so it was really messy."
Balancing 700 eggs on end simultaneously,
for example, and catching 77 grapes in his mouth within a
minute, were not exactly easy feats. "I know a lot of these
things are very silly ... but because it's the best in the
world, it requires a lot of training and practice," Furman
said. At any given time, Furman is training to challenge or
set four to five records, he said.
The one thing that makes it all worthwhile for
Furman, he said, is his hope to teach others about meditation,
and the limitless possibilities that can be found in it.
|