Talal Omar does not like to use words like "wacky" or "crazy".
When
it comes to describing the people compelled to set and break records on
a daily basis in the UAE, Mr Omar, the Middle East and North Africa
manager for Guinness World Records, prefers words like "creativity" and
"passion".
There have been attempts at the world’s largest hopping
race, riding a horse on its hind legs, and the biggest number of
knuckle push-ups.
More
than 400 people in the UAE apply to join the record books each year and
an average of 70 a year succeed – that is more than one a week.
"They
are really special people," insists Mr Omar. "Not every record is
interesting to different people, but we value every one and do not
distinguish between records. It is all inclusive, and we appreciate that
everyone has a different talent."
Last week, two records were set
– just another week in the office, as far as Guinness’s Dubai
headquarters in the Middle East is concerned.
At
Gitex technology week in an event hosted by the electronics giant
Samsung, 461 people wore headsets to set the record of the most number
of people riding a virtual reality rollercoaster at the same time for an
hour.
On Friday, a vast stainless steel vat was filled with 2,831
kilograms of mango sticky rice to set a record for the world’s largest
batch of the dish. It took seven months of planning and 10 hours to
prepare.
What
is more noteworthy is that the effort was not a record waiting to be
broken. A thousand kilograms of rice, 400kg of fresh mangoes, 500 litres
of coconut milk, 500l of coconut cream, 250kg of sugar and 25kg of salt
were used.
It was dreamt up by Maurice Fitzgerald, executive chef
at the Anantara Dubai The Palm Resort and Spa, who wanted to launch the
hotel’s gourmet food festival "with a bang".
"It was always on my
bucket list," he says. "We wanted to challenge ourselves and we will be
able to talk about it for years to come."
It
is up to prospective record-setters to suggest a challenge, the only
criteria being that it should be possible to beat anywhere in the world
and it should be quantifiable.
Dubai outstrips the rest of the
Middle East when it comes to setting records – no surprise for a city
known for its superlatives and priding itself on boasting the biggest,
the grandest and the most expensive.
There are records for the
longest, driverless metro network, the tallest man-made structure on
land, the largest indoor ski resort, the highest restaurant and the
longest queue of taxis. Dubai Taxi Corporation set a record by
assembling 1,100 cabs for a parade along Sheikh Zayed Road in March
2000.
The
UAE is also known for records such as the fastest 10-metre sprint by a
horse on its hind legs, the most number of people tying their shoelaces
in a minute, the most number of people unwrapping a sweet
simultaneously, and the largest gathering of people with the same name
(1,096 Mohammeds in 2005).
Even government officials, charities and police have been eager to show their willingness to achieve the extraordinary.
Last
year, Dubai Police gathered the largest number of signatures (13,288)
expressing loyalty to the country’s leadership, beating the previous
record of 12,884 signatures set in China.
In Abu Dhabi, records
have been set for the following: the most expensively decorated
Christmas tree, at Emirates Palace Hotel; the most expensive car licence
plate, sold to Saeed Khouri for Dh52.2 million in 2008; and the most
numbers of pull-ups in 24 hours, burpees in an hour and knuckle
push-ups, all completed by Australian Eva Clarke at Al Wahda Mall.
