Croatian Alliance for Rare Diseases has set out to break the Guinness world record for largest online photo gallery of hugs by the end of February. Last day of the month marks the International Rare Disease Day and CARD has been campaigning it for the last couple of years with online galleries of hug photos sent by the public during February. They’ve set a big goal for themselves this year as the current record holder, an international scavenger hunt organizer GISHWHES, has a gallery of 1o8 121 photos.
It’s a noble cause, and we at Just Zagreb are happy to participate each year, even though we were surprised such a record even exists (and then we thought: of course there is). So we started to wander what other outworldly world records have been broken in Zagreb. Sure, there’s the fastest electrical car by Rimac Motors or the longest theatrical run with the same cast held by Pero Kvrgic and Lela Margetic in Exercises in Style (since 1970), but they didn’t start those off as attempts at world records. Those just became record holders due to the work of people involved.
We wanted to find those who’s entire raison d’ etre was breaking the record in a useless category. Just to be clear, we love the idea behind Guinness World Records, striving for the impossible and constantly pushing the line further up, and we kind of have respect for the hard work and dedication (most) people have put into it. With that disclaimer behind us, here are the top 5 most useless world records broken in Zagreb.
5. Longest fuel range (Standard)
We all like to save on fuel as much as we can, but Marko Tomac and Ivan Cvetkovic went to record breaking extremes (literally) when they drove for 2,545.80 km (1,581.88 miles) on a single standard tank of fuel in 2011. The car they used was Volkswagen Passat 1.6 TDI BlueMotion and average consumption amounted to 3.08 l/100 km (91.71 UK mpg, 76.37 US mpg). Only Croatian roads have been driven, which makes the record, if a local cynic were to be asked, an even greater accomplishment.
4. Fastest time to push a car in one mile
That one tank of fuel, no matter how careful your driving is, will eventually ran out and you might find yourself stuck in the middle of nowhere with a dead car. Even worse, you need to get to wherever you’re going fast and the next gas station is miles away (let’s forget about more practical ways of going about this for now). Your best bet would be Mario Mlinaric, current record holder for fastest time to push a car in one mile (1.609 km), which he did in 15 min and 22 sec, and a former record holder for farthest distance pushing a car in 24 hours both solo and in tandem. And speaking of his partner in breaking records…
3. Longest Moonwalk in an hour
Sometimes you would rather walk then drive. Stretch your legs, get some fresh air…but there are those who find normal waking boring, people like Krunoslav Budiselic, current holder for longest moonwalk in an hour. Using Michael Jackson‘s signature move (or Jeffery Daniel‘s, or Bill Baley‘s, or…) Budiselic has crossed 5.7 km (3.54 miles) in one hour, breaking his former 5.255 km record. He’s been the undisputed champion of moonwalking since 2009. Budiselic has held other records as well: sharing one for pushing a car in tandem with Mlinaric, fastest time to open 2 000 beer bottles, most shirts worn at once, tallest stack of pancakes and most push ups in one minute.
2. Largest collection of panda related items
Largest collection of panda related items is just one of the records Edo and Iva Rajh, a father – daughter tandem holds. The number of items in their collection (1,966) is very close to a number in another record in their name – the largest collection of stamps featuring pandas (1,966). Both are featured on the official Guinness site so we’re guessing those two categories are distinct from each other in some way. But the extensive collection of WWF stamps is not the only thing going for them. They also hold a record for largest collection of lenticular images (images that change when viewed from a different angle), counting 2 919 items in the collection, and (this is going to get ‘mainstream’ geeks jealous) a record for the largest collection of non-sports trading cards. They’ve started the collection with Magic: The Gathering cards in 2006 and had since spread to other trading cards, amassing over 20 000 different ones. I wonder if they might be wiling to part with their Black Lotus card for a reasonable price….
1. Largest appendix removed
We’re sure Mr. Safranko August would have been proud of his record if he were alive to witness himself breaking one. It was during the 72 year old’s autopsy in 2006 when the largest appendix in the world was discovered. Average appendix length is considered to be around 9 cm, while August’s was 26 cm long. As far as we could find, there’s no other mention of Mr. August on the internet, making his Guinness Word Record the only thing he’ll be publicly remembered for. And that’s why he’s number one on our list. For capturing the essence of this list and motives of record holders: being remembered for doing or having the biggest useless thing in the world.
