EDITOR
The Guinness World Records has declared that cry-a-thon is not among the activities it can monitor and assess, hence it will never monitor a crying marathon.
The body posted an article on its website on Thursday in reaction to Tembu Ebere, a Nigerian man’s cry-a-thon.
Ebere, who has a Cameroonian heritage, recently embarked on one-week crying towards winning a title for the longest cry time but claimed he went partially blind for 45 minutes during the process.
But Guinness World Records in a statement titled ‘What makes a Guinness World Records title?’ spelt out clear conditions each record attempt must comply with in order to be authenticated by the organisation.
The parameters stated in the article include measurability and safety of human health, among others.
“Just to quell some recent rumours, we wouldn’t ever monitor a record for the longest marathon crying,” said GWR.
THE CRITERIA
Each record title must fulfil all the following criteria:
Measurable – Can it be measured objectively? What is the unit of measurement? We do not accept applications based on subjective variables. For example – beauty, kindness, loyalty.
Breakable – Can the record be broken? Our record titles must be open to being challenged.
Standardisable – Can the record be repeated by someone else? Is it possible to create a set of parameters and conditions that all challengers can follow?
Verifiable – Can the claim be proven? Will there be accurate evidence available to prove it occurred?
Based on one variable – Is the record based on one superlative and measured in one unit of measurement?
The best in the world – Has anyone else done better? If your record suggestion is new then Guinness World Records will set a challenging minimum requirement for you to beat.
Furthermore, embarking on any attempt goes beyond mere performance of the idea, but must equally run cooperatively with a number of internal policies (available via its website) guiding the operation of the body.
The body said: We assess all new record titles against our values of integrity, respect, inclusiveness and passion. As such, we have a number of internal policies that all records must adhere to. For example we do not endorse:
- Unsuitable activities or those which could cause potential harm or danger to spectators.
- Any records that endanger or harm animals.
- Excessive eating. All of our eating records are limited to short time periods and small quantities of food, such as fastest time to eat three cream crackers.
- Food wastage. We require any record relating to food to follow strict policies regarding food consumption and donation.
- Any record involving the consumption of alcohol as part of drinking contests, binge drinking or speed drinking.
- Illegal activities in pursuit of record breaking.
- People under the age of 16 to attempt or hold records which are considered unsuitable for minors.
