Guide to record formats

Suggesting a new record title can be exciting and your chance to be creative. However, don’t forget that all of our records must adhere to our record breaking criteria; breakable, measurable, standardisable, verifiable and measured by a single superlative. 

As such all our records are categorised by a record format. 

We have an extensive number of established record formats proven to meet our record breaking criteria and have categorised these below for you to refer to. This list of record formats will provide you with some guidance on the type of records we can monitor when suggesting a new record title. Unfortunately, if your idea does not fall under one of these categories it will most likely mean we do not monitor it. 

Our record formats are regularly reviewed and updated.

Art

  • Largest/longest painting
  • Largest/longest drawing
  • Largest/longest mural
  • Largest/longest collage
  • Largest sculpture made of ‘x’
  • Largest mosaic made of ‘x’
  • Most contributions to ‘x’
  • Largest X word/sentence

Animals

  • Anatomy
    • Tallest
    • Shortest
    • Longest
  • Oldest
  • Gatherings
  • Tricks
    • Anatomy
      • Tallest
      • Shortest
      • Longest
    • Oldest
    • Gatherings
    • Tricks
      • Fastest time over a distance
      • Most in 'x' time
    • Fastest
    • Largest enclosures

Audio records

  • Loudest
    • Individual
    • Crowd
  • Longest duration sound
    • Vocal
    • On an instrument
  • Highest/lowest pitch
    • Vocal
    • On an instrument

Big stuff

  • Large manufactured items (Large replicas of existing items)
    • Tallest item
    • Heaviest item
    • Longest outstretched item
  • Large objects made from a particular material
  • Large structures
    • Large civil engineering projects (walkways, bridges, cable cars)
    • Large buildings
  • Large projections
  • Large contraptions
  • Large puzzles

Careers

  • Longest careers
  • Youngest professional /oldest professional

Collections & displays

  • Largest collection of ‘x’ related memorabilia
  • Largest collection of ‘x’ item type
  • Largest display of ‘x’ item type
  • Largest display of ‘x’ related items

Extreme sports

  • Aerial records
    • Highest trick/jump
    • Longest trick/jump
    • Most somersaults in a trick
  • Most consecutive tricks
  • Most tricks in a timeframe
  • Fastest speed achieved skating/skiing/sailing etc
  • Longest wave surfed on a x

Food

  • Largest
    • Single item
    • Serving
    • Container
      • Largest container (e.g. popcorn)
      • Largest bag (e.g. candy, rice)
    • Mosaic
    • Sculpture
  • Longest
    • Single item
      • Iconic food (e.g. sausage)
    • LINE of items
  • Most expensive
    • food
    • drink
  • Most food items made in …(individual or team)
    • 1 minute
    • 3 minutes
    • 1 hour
    • 8 hours
    • 12 hours
    • 24 hours
  • Most food served in …
    • 1 hour
    • 8 hours
    • 12 hours
    • 24 hours
  • Longest marathon
    • cooking
    • barbecue
  • Most people making food simultaneously
    • single location
    • multiple locations
  • Fastest time to consume
    • three items of food
    • one serving of food
    • one drink
  • Most consumed in …
    • 30 seconds
    • One minute

Human Body

  • Body Modifications
    • Most overall
    • Most in a time
    • Largest modification e.g. flesh tunnel
    • Largest gatherings
  • Hair
    • Longest
    • Biggest e.g. afro, perm
    • Hair shaved in a time frame
    • Hair styling in a time frame
    • Hair donation – individual and team
  • Anatomy
    • Tallest
    • Shortest
    • Heaviest
    • Organs removed – largest/heaviest
    • Longest
  • Oldest
    • People
    • To achieve something
    • In a career

Journeys

  • Fastest
    • Place to place
      • On foot
      • Non-motorised vehicles (e.g. bicycles)
  • Longest
    • Journey in a single country
    • Journey internationally
      • Motorised and non-motorised vehicles
  • Lowest fuel consumption
    • Place to place
      • Petrol
      • Diesel
      • Battery power
  • Greatest distance (Motorised and non-motorised – must be undertaken on a closed racetrack)
    • In 12 hours
    • In 24 hours
    • In 48 hours
  • Greatest vertical distance
    • In 12 hours
    • In 24 hours
    • In 48 hours
  • Highest altitude on land
    • Defined activity
    • Defined permanent structure
  • Deepest
    • Defined activity underwater
  • Fastest to visit all stations in an underground network' 
  • Youngest and oldest journey

Longest Lines

  • Longest chains
  • Longest line of people
    • Performing a skill
    • Relay (non-federated sport)
    • Costumed
  • Object to include records like longest line of surf boards, pallets etc.

Mass Participation

  • Largest lessons
    • Largest dance lessons
    • Largest instructional and/or school subject lesson
  • Largest dances
    • Style/genre
    • Traditional/Cultural
    • Simultaneous performance of popular dance phenomenon
  • Largest gatherings
    • Costumed
    • Professional impersonators
    • Shared trait
  • Largest human image
  • Musical performance
    • Largest ensemble
    • Most people playing “x”
  • Most performances of a skill by a group
    • Consecutively
    • Simultaneously
  • Mass participation in x hours
  • Largest audience/crowds
  • Largest tournament (non-federated sport)
  • Most people performing an activity simultaneously in multiple venues

Online/social media

  • Largest online photo album
  • Largest online video album
  • Largest online photo competition
  • Largest online video competition
  • Most followers
  • Most likes
  • Most retweets/flips/shares
  • Most [live] views
  • Most [archived] views
  • Largest online lesson
  • Longest online lesson
  • Longest stream of ‘x’

Plants

  • Heaviest
    • Fruit
    • Vegetable
    • Nut
  • Largest by size
    • Fruit
    • Vegetable
    • Nut
    • Flower head
    • Leaf
  • Tallest
    • Tree
    • Plant
  • Productivity
    • Highest crop yield
    • Most fruit/vegetables on one plant at the same time
    • Most fruit/vegetables from one plant in a year
    • Most blooms on one plant at the same time

Quick Challenges

  • GWR Live!
  • Fastest over a set distance (up to 10 km)
    • Fastest riding ‘x’
    • Fastest while controlling “x”
    • Fastest while balancing “x”
    • Fastest in a “x” (position, posture, or method)
  • Fastest to complete an activity
    • Fastest time to “sort” items
    • Fastest time to perform a task “x” times
  • Longest time to records [excluding marathons (under 24 hours)]
    • Longest time performing unstable/volatile skill
  • Most in x time
    • Most times to complete an activity (individual)
    • Most times to complete an activity (in a team)
      • Relay (non-federated sport)
    • Dance moves
    • Most items sorted in x time
  • Most connected in x time (LEGO, paperclips, etc.)

Science

  • Published academic achievements
  • Most electricity generated in x time

Sports

  • Gym based
    • Exercises in a time frame:
      • 1 minute
      • 3 minutes
      • 1 hour
      • 12 hour
      • 24 hour
    • Most weight lifted:
      • 1 hour
      • 12 hour
      • 24 hour
    • Farthest distance in a time frame:
      • Cycled
      • Rowed
      • On a treadmill
      • Ski ergometer
    • Duration
      • Static hold
  • Federated Sport
    • Longest match
    • Most people in a match
    • Largest Tournament
    • Largest Championship
  • Sports Skills
    • Targets hit
    • Completed in a time frame
    • Consecutive
  • Marathons
    • Fastest
    • Most completed
    • Completed in different continents
    • Costumes

Strength

  • Heaviest weight lifted/held/pulled
  • Heaviest vehicle pulled
  • Farthest distance to pull a vehicle
  • Breaking blocks

Structures

  • Tallest/largest structure/tower/pyramid
  • Tallest/largest structure/tower/pyramid in ‘x’ time

Technology

  • Telecommunications records
  • Power plant records
  • Remote control toys/technology
  • Highest resolution image
  • Robotics records

Videogames

  • Fastest completion (monitored through Speedrun.com)
  • Highest score (sourced from Twin Galaxies)
  • Challenge type – time frames, modifiers
  • Longest marathon