Suresh Joachim
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Arulanantham Suresh Joachim is a Canadian of Sri Lankan Tamil ancestry who has broken 33 world records, in an attempt to benefit the underprivileged children of the world.
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[edit] World records
In 1991, Joachim first discovered the Guinness Book of World Records. He was then inspired to break them himself, as it was the most obvious way he found for an "average" person like him to become famous.
- 1st- unknown record name (19 August-29 September 1996)
- (42 days), Joachim's first record attempt involved running in his hometown of Colombo, Sri Lanka for at least a little bit every hour for 1000 consecutive hours, totaling a distance of 3,495 km.
- 2nd- Furthest distance traveled on escalators (25-31 May 1998)
- Joachim traveled 225.44 km, up and down escalators at the Westfield Burwood Shopping Centre, Burwood, New South Wales, Australia.
- 3rd- Longest time balancing on one foot (22-25 May 1997)
- Joachim balanced for 76 hours and 40 minutes at Vihara Maha Devi Park Open Air Stadium, in Sri Lanka.
- 4th- Furthest distance run, whilst carrying a 4.5 kg brick in a nominated ungloved hand in an uncradled downward position
- Joachim traveled 126.675 km around the Westfield Hornsby mall on Florence Street in Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia. He was unsuccessful the first time, when the brick slipped and cut his hand.[1]
A broadcast by Joachim on Geethavaani Tamil Radio in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, lasted for a record 120 hours. It was broadcast between 4 p.m. on 23 June and 4 p.m. on 28 June 2003. This record was unsuccessfully challenged a few times by DJ Max Rushden of BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, who was aiming for 121 hours.[1]
His wedding to Christa Rasanayagam on September 6, 2003 was held at Christ the King Catholic Church, Mississauga, Ontario. The wedding featured a record 79 bridesmaids, a record 47 groomsmen, and a record 60.09 m (197 ft 1 in) long wedding bouquet, held by the bride.
His next four records were all in Greater Toronto Area malls. On 28 November 2004, Joachim earned the record for quickest time reaching 100 miles on a treadmill, in 13 hr 42 min 33 sec at Square One Shopping Centre, Mississauga, Ontario. At the same time, he went the furthest distance in 24 hours on a treadmill, tallying a distance of 257.88 km (160.24 miles) from the 28th to the 29th. With running records in his collection, Joachim participated in the longest dance marathon by an individual. Set at the Dixie Outlet Mall in Mississauga, Ontario, the 100 hour event lasted from 16 to 20 February 2005.
Joachim set the record for the longest ten-pin bowling marathon, at 100 hours. He broke this record at Playtime Bowl in Toronto, Ontario from 8 to 12 June 2005.
On March 17, 2006, he set the world record for a couple dance marathon by dancing 31 hours consecutively with Tiffany Lesko. The dances performed included the waltz, quickstep, cha cha, samba, rumba, and jive.[2]
Joachim is currently attempting to set a record for basketball dribbling distance in 24 hours. The attempt is happening at Toronto's Elmbank Community Centre. Tyler Curiel has held the record of 174.46km since 2003, accomplished at Tulane University.[3]
[edit] Other Guinness-acknowledged records
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- Greatest distance covered in 24 hours whilst dribbling a basketball is 156.71 km (97.37 miles) at Vulkanhallen, Oslo, Norway on 30-31 March 2001
- Travelled a distance of 214.96 km (133.56 miles) in 48 hours on a treadmill at Crown Promenade, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 27-29 July 2002
- Travelled 86 km (53.43 miles) on a treadmill in 12 hours on 28 July 2002 at Crown Promenade, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- The longest drumming marathon by an individual lasted for 84 hours and was achieved from 1 to 4 February 2004 at the Magic Factory, Zürich, Switzerland
- Travelled 659.27 km (409.65 miles) on a treadmill in one week at Waou Club Med Gym, Paris, France between 31 July and 7 August 2004
[edit] World Peace Marathon
To further his commitment to helping suffering children, Joachim will put world record attempts aside to attempt the World Peace Marathon this year and the next. He plans to journey through 88 major cities in 54 countries, or 6,000 km in 182 days, passing a symbolic peace torch to dignitaries at each stop. The ultimate goal of the tour is to raise $1 billion CAD for UFFORSC.
Originally, the journey was to start in Jerusalem (12:00 a.m., December 25, 2007), and end in Sydney, Australia (5:00 p.m. on June 24, 2008). In Sydney, Joachim hoped to wrap up the tour by handing the torch to the Prime Minister of Australia, then John Howard, followed by "a huge musical celebration".
Later the tour was re-scheduled to start December 25, 2009 12:00am in Jerusalem, to end 181 days later in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada at 5:00 p.m. on June 24, 2010. Joachim plans to hand the torch to the Prime Minister of Canada.[2]
Joachim will also submit a petition with a million signatures to make June 24 a worldwide cease fire day.
[edit] References
- ^ Henry, Michele. "We're world class Guinness addicts", Toronto Star, Toronto, Ontario: Torstar Corporation, 2008-01-15, pp. 1. Retrieved on 2008-01-28. (English)
- ^ CNW: Dance Marathon Couple, 15 March 2006
- ^ Chris Clay, "Record-breaker aims for another one", Mississauga News, 28 August 2006.
