Juggling is making the record books! Or at least the leading record book of our times, The Guinness Book of World Records.

 

Gene Jones, director of The Jugglers Network in New York City and IJA president from 1980-83, sought out and contacted Guinness editor David Boehm in 1980 after some IJA members came forth with questions and claims. That contact has led to greatly expanded coverage of juggling records by Guinness. Jones said the new edition this fall contains two pages on juggling, one of which is a photo spread.

 

Editions between 1957 and 1980 included only two juggling superlatives ­Rastelli's eight plates and ten balls.

 

Jones said, "Jugglers who wrote before my contact had been flatly rejected because the editors had no basis of knowledge for comparison of the claims."

 

Based on his IJA title and overall knowledge of juggling, Jones became Guinness World Judge for Juggling, carrying the authority to screen claims for the book. One of his goals has been expansion of the range of juggling records that Guinness will recognize. At the end of each year, Jones writes a report of his activities and research, updating old records if they've been broken and recommending recognition of new records.

 

Records that Jones has added during the past five years that will reappear in this edition include: Bobby May's five-ball drum-head bounce while standing on his head; seven club jugglers Lucas, Albert Pelrovski (USSR), Sorin Munteanu (Romania) and Jack Bremlov; 11 ring Russian jugglers Sergei Ignatov, Eugene Belaur and Petrovski; and Gran Picasso's manipulation of five ping pong balls with his mouth. Albert Lucas gets credit for a 12 ring flash he performed under Jones watchful eye in Las Vegas last summer.

 

Jones said Guinness is very interested in obtaining juggling photos. In this year's edition there will be pictures of IJA members Bruce Block (40 cigar box balance), Anthony Gatto ("big finish" trick), Albert Lucas (tossing 12 rings) and Bill Gillen joggling five balls).

Guinness doesn't accept  records that are limited to special conditions, age groups or by the addition of endless sub-categories

 

The main concern of Guinness, according to Jones, is credibility. For that reason, Jones must witness, or be convinced that others witnessed, juggling feats that go in the book.

 

The Lucas records set last summer provide a good example of how Jones operates in his official Guinness capacity.

 

As a volunteer for Guinness, he receives no compensation and does not have a travel budget. Hence, people who request him to judge their attempts must either come to him, meet him at an IJA convention he plans to attend anyway, or finance his travel to their site.

 

Lucas chose the latter method, and Jones spent three days in Las Vegas in early July 1984. Lucas intended to set records for the most rings juggled, most balls juggled and longest time for five clubs, seven balls and seven rings.

 

Jones acts strictly as observer. He maintains a stopwatch but will not pick up a prop, encourage or interfere with an attempt in any way. And though Guinness maintains that a record must comprise twice as many tosses as number of objects plus a final catch of those objects, there is no specification of the number of attempts allowed. "I want to give a person every possible chance to set the record," Jones said. "As long as I feel like someone is making progress toward it or teetering on the edge, I'll sit and wait."

 

He didn't have to wait long for Lucas' five club record. His first attempt was 37 minutes 10 seconds aloft, shattering the time credited to Ignatov in the book of 16:20. Lucas also established times for seven balls (2:03.48) and seven rings (3:23.05). And though he got credit for flashing 12 rings and 10 balls, he was unable to meet Guinness requirements for a record juggle of those objects.

 

Jones and Guinness believe that listing records will motivate people to advance the state of the art. Oftentimes, a listing might not be the top feat ever achieved, but it is the top that Guinness has witnessed and gives others a goal to shoot for. "I want to set something on the table for others to take a shot at," Jones said.

 

Such is the case with the new 1985 listing of Larry Vaksman's 2-hour, 48 minute non-stop three ball cascade. Though it's likely that someone, somewhere, has endured the boredom longer, but Vaksman's feat was noted by Judge Jones and accomplished under controlled conditions in a Bergen, N.J, shopping mall in 1982.

 

There's a fine line between what skills Jones will consider as legitimate records and what he rejects as stunts. "Guinness doesn't accept records that are limited to special conditions, age groups or by the addition of endless sub-categories," he explained.

 

"Doing nine rings and spinning four balls while doing a somersault might show great skill, but it's not the type of thing Guinness will claim is a world record. Records must be clear and simple demonstrations of a specific skill, and there simply aren't too many people ready to make a legitimate attempt at a Guinness world record."

 

"The big thing they're adding this year are joggling records," said Jones. Those accomplishments will include Gillen's mile run with five balls (8 min., 28 sec.), Scott Daamgard's 1981 mile of 4: 37, and Albert Lucas' 100-meter time of 12.67 at the 1983 IJA convention in Las Vegas .

 

Jones believes that Guinness editors are also interested in heavyweight juggling, and encourages people to come forward with their claims in that area.

 

Jugglers wanting to know more about Guinness world records can contact Jones at The Jugglers Network, New York, NY.