This weekend I flew to Toronto, Ontario to help promote the Science of Guinness World Records Exhibit being put together by Science North in conjunction with Guinness World Record’s their parent company.

I made an official Guinness World Record attempt at the Association of Science and Technology Conference in front of about 150 spectators with an official Guinness adjudicator on site. The dignitaries went first and I was a bit (but not totally) surprised when two of them broke the current mark of 30 feet 1 inch.

On my first throw, which was otherwise phenomenal, it hit the wall since we were constrained to a narrow space. It wasn’t counted against my 3 attempts. On the second attempt (my first attempt that counted) I broke the current record but didn’t best the dignitaries’ marks. On my third throw, the tortilla skimmed the ground before covering a considerable distance. From the adjudicator’s position, it wasn’t readily obvious that the tortilla hit the ground (see the video) so he marked it where it hit the ground the second time but disqualified the attempt when it was revealed it did indeed hit the ground early. On the last throw, I had a good release that flew within between the wall and the spectators and covered 54 feet 5 inches before coming to a rest on the ground besting the previous record of 30 feet 1 inch by over 80%.

It was a phenomenal event overall with so many like-minded people that have a passion for STEM education and reaching out in ways that engage students and adults alike to consider the importance and power of STEM education.

Check out the Science of Guinness World Record exhibit opening at Science North in Sudsbury, Ontario in March of 2020 and reach out if you’d like it to travel to your local science center sometime over the next 5 years!

News coverage: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2019/09/23/Man-throws-tortilla-54-feet-5-inches-to-break-world-record/1791569267369/