LInk to 612 Breakfast page


If you're looking for 612 ABC Brisbane stories, you'll find them on the official 612 Breakfast page: http://www.tinyurl.com/612breakfast

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Bmag 9th April 2013 - World records for SEQ

To slightly misquote Albert Einstein, if a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, what can be gleaned from a workspace covered in celebrity underwear? A couple of weeks ago, I found myself having to concentrate on the daily task of preparing my breakfast radio show, whilst surrounded by bras handed to me by, amongst others, Ten News weather presenter Tegan George, Olympic gold medallist Emily Seebohm, foodie Jan Power, Australian womens cricket captain Jodie Fields and ABC TV presenter Jessica Van Vonderen! The more I talked about them on air, the more bras we received. Listeners started bombarding ABC Shops with them. And the security desk at the ABC building in South Bank suddenly had to find boxes to accommodate them!

And Carryn Gorrie couldn’t be happier! You see, it’s for Carryn that I’ve started collecting women’s underwear! The Redlands mum wants to smash the world record for the most bras chained together. Girl Guides in Dargaville, New Zealand, are the current title-holders with 169,234. Carryn’s target is 200,000 by October 5th. But there’s more to this than just beating the record. For every bra donated – and no, they don’t have to be in perfect condition – Carryn asks for a one dollar donation. The money raised will go to cancer prevention and research. Then, after the bra-chain world-record attempt, usable bras will be handed on to groups such as The Uplift Project (www.upliftbras.org), so they can go to women in need. Now that I have my radio listeners donating bras, I thought it was about time I invited you, dear bmag reader, to do the same. Feel free to send them to me at the ABC (GPO Box 9994 Brisbane 4001) or drop them at your nearest ABC Shop (eg Carindale, Chermside, Indooroopilly, Garden City, Toombul, North Lakes, Myer Centre) but you’ll also find a full list of collection points on Carryn’s website www.mylifemystyle.com.au.

There’s something about world records, isn’t there? For me, as a child, the Guinness Book was an annual Christmas present and I would spend weeks pouring over all the crazy human feats that were deserving of an entry in the book. As an adult, I’ve never lost my fascination or enthusiasm for world record attempts. Another southeast Queenslander currently vying for a spot in the book is Reid Anderton. As you read this, he’s probably on his bike, hoping to become the fastest person to cycle around Australia. The record stands at 37 days. Reid thinks he can do it in 35, which means averaging 400km a day. Think how tired you are after a four hour drive! Now imagine doing that distance on a bike! Reid left from Victoria Point on March 10th and, last time I checked, was well on his way to claiming the record.

Yet another local record attempt on the horizon is for the longest game of indoor bowls. The blokes at Mt Gravatt Bowls Club need to play for more than 36 hours to beat the current mark, held by six bowlers from Southgate in the UK. At Mt Gravatt, they reckon they can play for a full 48 hours and will give it a red-hot go May 18th-20th, raising money for prostate cancer research. Best of luck fellas!

Of course we already have some notable record-holders in this part of the world. Adam Lopez, a music teacher at Sheldon College, is in the book for the highest note ever sung by a man. Steve and Suzanne Eltis hold the record for the longest distance run three-legged in 24 hours (just over 100km), set at Eatons Hill State School in 2008. And Ipswich Paul Pisasale owns the largest tea-set collection in the world – yes, officially recognised by the Guinness Book.

But it’s another Ipswich City councillor who holds what is probably my favourite world record, and one which can never be beaten. In 1969, as a seventeen year old, Paul Tully become the world potato chip-eating champion, consuming 30 packets in 24 minutes and 33.6 seconds – and without a drink! Eating records were removed from the Guinness Book in 1990 for safety reasons, meaning Paul Tully will forever be the undisputed, unbeaten and unbeatable world record holder!

No comments:

Post a Comment