There appears so much hearsay about this record, as is evidence in these threads, and I believe citizenfish has mentioned of no account of Guinness stating the record is too dangerous.
I was guilty of believing this in the early days of my research as it was told to me by an *old timer*. I found out that the Guinness problem stemmed from them adding Ken Webb's record into the book with no verification on their part at all. I have a series of letters that went to and fro with them concerning this and they eventually removed it and replaced it with Godwin's. They then removed this as well, a few years back myself and his daughter asked "Why?" and they said they would put it back in.
A few years back another guy approached me having decided to take the record on. I was extremely cynical as he had done about zero riding before, but he approached Guinness for some terms and here is an excerpt. Have a good laugh at this and then ask yourself "do you really want these people involved in the year record verification"?
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1.A log book detailing the laps/routes, date, location and distance must be submitted.
2. The event must be made on a pre-measured course that is perfectly level. Ideally, this should be an official athletics track. Where such a track is not used, the course must be measured and marked out by someone suitably qualified, such as a professional surveyor. This person should also confirm that the average gradient over the entire course is no greater than 1:1000. If the gradient is steeper than this, the record attempt must be made “uphill”.
3. The attempt should take place on a measured course such as an indoor cycling track or a stadium athletics track. Where the length of the course is not known exactly (i.e. where the track being used is not an approved cycling or athletics track), the circuit length must be measured by a professional qualified surveyor, and a report on letterhead paper must be provided detailing the circuit length and how it was measured. The distance will be taken as the average length of the track (i.e. the length down the middle).
4. The number of laps completed should be noted in a logbook by the witnesses present, to enable the overall distance cycled to be calculated. Note that cycle or vehicle odometers are not acceptable means of measuring the distance covered.
5. The cycle used should be standard, complying with UCI regulations in every way. A road or track cycle may be used. The bicycle must be inspected by an appropriately qualified official from a cycling club or federation, and this person should provide a witness statement testifying to the fact that the bicycle complies with UCI specifications.
The name of the organisation, company or person(s) making the attempt must be given, along with the date and place.
The event must take place in a public place or in a venue open to public inspection.
The event is continuous. The clock does not stop. One year means a complete 12-month cycle including rest breaks. For example, if the event starts at 12 noon on January 1st, it must finish at 12 noon the following January 1st.
The participant may take as many breaks as he/she wishes, but the clock must not stop at any time for any reason.
A loud start and finish signal recognized by all participants must be used.
Two experienced timekeepers (e.g. from a local athletics club) must time the attempt with stopwatches accurate to 0.01 seconds.
The activity you are attempting MUST BE CLEARLY VISIBLE on the video footage as we will not be able to accept your claim. This comes from problems we have encountered when trying to count legitimate push-ups.
The entire attempt must be filmed in case further evidence is required.
For times up to one hour, we expect the entire attempt to be submitted on video. For events longer than this, a ‘highlights package’ will be acceptable but must include the following points:
o Footage of the start of the attempt
o Two minutes footage every hour
o Any points where the claimant takes a break – a clock or timer must be
visible on screen, but not the camcorder’s own time display o The point at which the record is broken
o The end of the attempt.
The camera must be focused on the attempt at all times and preferably be static.
Failure to include the required documentation will ultimately delay the outcome of your claim or lead to its rejection.
