By Haddon Libby
People like to throw things. Whether it is a ball, brick, temper tantrum or frisbee, people are always letting things fly.
Megan Campbell of the London City Lionesses soccer team just set the Guiness World Record for the longest overhead throw of a soccer ball. Her distance? 123 feet, 2 inches. The record for guys is 77 feet longer at 200 feet, 1.6 inches by Michael Lewis of Texas. Lewis set his record during a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in 2016.
Here in America, our football is an oblong spheroid. The Guinness World Record for the longest throw happened in April 2023 in Dallas when Davis Walker hurled a football 237 feet, 2 inches or 79 yards!
If baseball is more of your thing, you may be surprised that this record has been held by a Canadian since 1957. With a six-step run, Glen Gorbous threw a baseball 445 feet, 10 inches. The women’s Guinness World Record has been held by Babe Didrikson since 1931 when she threw a ball 296 feet.
When someone is ‘throwing bricks’, we usually think of it in basketball when someone misses the hoop badly. At other times, we think of it in reference to criticism. Back in 1978, Geoff Capes of the United Kingdom took the phrase at face value and threw a brick 146 feet 1 inch.
Joshua Walker holds the record for the longest basketball shot at 113 feet 6 inches. That is nearly 20 feet longer than the court that the game is played on. The most 3-pointers made in a minute were set in 2023 by Jason Pryor when he made 33 shots. The most 3-pointers made in one hour is 1,134! This was set by Ryan Martin of Maine last year.
Oscar Lynagh of Australia is a serial record-breaker. Lynagh holds the Guinness World record for throwing a rubber chicken 122 feet 1 inch in 2024. He has also thrown a teabag into a mug from 32 feet 10 inches as well as throwing a sausage roll 141 feet and catching in his mouth. Lynagh is fast as he decorated a cupcake in 44.3 seconds, made a gingerbread house in 1 minute 58 seconds and hung 31 candy canes on a Christmas tree in 30 seconds.
Christopher Watson of Canada holds the record for throwing a Guinness World Records book 71 feet 9 inches. T
One of the biggest things that someone has thrown to set a record is a washing machine. Johan Espenkrona of Sweden threw one 14 feet 7 inches
The farthest egg throw and catch happened in 1978 when Aussie’s Andy Dunlop and Johnny Foley threw one 228 feet 1 inch. Dunlop also holds the record for cow pat throws having hurled one 266 in 1985.
Joe Ayoob holds the record for paper airplanes. In 2012, Ayoob threw his airplane 781 feet! In a fun coincidence, the longest boomerang throw (and return) is 781 feet. This record was set in Switzerland in 2005.
The longest frisbee catch by a dog happened in 2012 when Davy Whippet caught a 402-foot throw by his owner Robert McLeod.
The longest jump by a cat is 8 feet 5 inches. This happened in February of this year when Oscar, a 7-year-old cat from Dallas, made the jump.
The assistant bartender animal must be Zac the Macaw of San Jose. Zac holds the record for opening cans at 35 in just 60 seconds. Zac also holds the record for the most slam dunks in a minute with twenty-two.
Haddon Libby is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer at Winslow Drake Investment Management. For more information on our services, please visit www.WinslowDrake.com.
