The farthest distance sailed by a monohull yacht in 24 hours is 589 nm (1,090.8 km, 677.8 miles) and was achieved by Ericsson 4, skippered by Torben Grael (Brazil) during the first leg (Alicante to Cape Town) of the Volvo Ocean Race in the Southern Atlantic Ocean, on 29 October 2008.
Japan’s Shinkansen high-speed rail network opened for business on 1 October 1964. Since then the system has carried nearly 7 billion passengers without a single fatality due to collision. The only derailment occurred on 23 October 2004 during the Chuetsu Earthquake, but despite eight out of ten cars leaving the track there were no casualties.
The record for the fastest 10 km sack race is 1 hr 22 min 2 sec and was set by Ashrita Furman (USA) in Montauk, New York, USA on 23 August 2001.
The female record for the greatest distance rowed in 24 hours (upstream and downstream) is 229 km (142.29 miles) by Sybille Roller, Judith Schulz and Imke Ludwig (all Germany) at DRUM Rowing Club, Berlin, Germany on 2-3 August 2003.
The most concrete blocks broken using the roundhouse kick method in one minute is 33, by Mikael Birgersson (Sweden) at the studios of Guinness Rekord TV, Stockholm, Sweden on 28 November 2001.
The longest duration holding an iron cross position on Roman rings was 39.23 sec by Zak Kerkoulas (USA) at the Field House at Chelsea Piers in New York, New York, USA, on 27 August 2010. A proper iron cross requires the body to be rigid with arms at a 90-degree angle to the body and parallel to the floor. Witnesses included former All-American collegiate gymnast Ramiro Mora and former USA national gymnastics team member on the rings Chris LaMorte.
The fastest time by a single scull to row the River Thames from Lechlade to Gravesend, is 43hr 40min 56 sec by Malcolm Knight (UK) of Dittons Skiff and Punting Club fom 7-9 April 2005 Smashes the previous record by over 16 hours!!
Pope Stephen II was elected on 24 March 752 following the death of Pope Zacharias (reigned 741–752) and died two days later. In more recent years, the shortest pontificates have been as follows:- Leo XI (1 April – 12 April 1605) – 11 days Pope Urban VII (15 – 27 September 1590) – 12 days Marcellus II (9 April – 1 May 1555) – 20 days John Paul 1 (26 August – 28 September 1978) – 23 days Pius II (22 September – 18 October
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Apollo 13 is the most famous near miss in the history of space disasters. En route to the Moon, an oxygen tank exploded, forcing the crew, James Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert (all USA) to evacuate the command module and use the attached lunar module as a lifeboat. Apollo 13 used a ‘free return trajectory’ to return home, relying on the Moon’s gravity to slingshot the spacecraft around it and back to Earth. All three crewmembers survived their ordeal, which lasted just 5 days
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The frontier of the Holy See or Vatican City in Rome measures 3.2 km (1.9 miles), making it the shortest frontier between two sovereign countries.