Record set for rope jumping

Record set for rope jumping

BANDUNG (JP): At 45 years old, Ashrita Furman showed he could
rival the world's fittest athletes in a test of endurance after
he skipped for over 130,000 beats here over the weekend.

Furman, a Guinness Book of Records regular since 1979 who has
58 records to his name, demonstrated his rope jumping skills over
a 24-hour period, finishing at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

During the energy-sapping exercise, Furman took an hourly
five-minute break to eat or drink. A doctor, a time keeper and a
beat counter witnessed the display of stamina.

Vasanti Nienz from the record breaker's entourage said that
Furman, who is a native of Brooklyn in New York, trained for
between two and three hours a day over a six-week period before
attempting to set the world record. "That's dedication," he said.

"Concentration played a pivotal role...This achievement (his
powers of concentration) is a product of his daily meditation
exercises," Nienz added.

Nienz said Guinness executives promised Furman a 59th
appearance in their book if he surpassed 100,000 jumps.

Furman and his entourage follow the Indian spiritual
philosopher Sri Chinmoy, who founded a meditation center in
Queens, New York, in 1979. The Indian guru has been behind the
bulk of the world records set by Furman, who is of Jewish descent
and was born Keith Furman.

Among the records he holds or has held are 27,000 jumping
jacks, 27 hours of yodeling, 53.2 miles of backward unicycling
and 11.5 miles of pogosticking.

Furman will join a 10-kilometer run for peace with orphans
here on Wednesday. (Sonny Kasiran)