Guinness World Records celebrates oldest trapeze artist, highest-jumping dog

[September 07, 2018]  LONDON (Reuters) - An octogenarian flying trapeze artist, the owner of the world's fastest jet-propelled go-kart and a dog named Feather with a flair for jumping are among the record-breaking stars to win a place in the latest edition of Guinness World Records.

Others to feature in the 2019 edition of the book, which went on sale on Thursday, include the creator of the world's largest knitting needles and an Irish butcher, Barry John Crowe, who has produced the most sausages - 78 - in one minute.

Betty Goedhart, from California, has been named the world's oldest trapeze artist at 85 and attributes her success to "doing things I enjoy doing".

"I'm hoping I encourage people, women, to not think that when they hit the age of 55, they are old. We have got a lot more on our journey," said Goedhart, who only began trapeze classes at the age of 78 but looks as though she has spent a lifetime swinging through the air upside down.

Another octogenarian honored in the book is Sumiko Iwamura, an 83-year-old Japanese restaurant owner who in the evening turns into DJ Sumirock, the world's oldest professional club disc jockey.

British art student Elizabeth Bond, 31, decided to draw attention to her exhibitions by creating knitting needles that measure some 4.42 meters (14 feet 5 inches) in length.

Another Briton, Tom Bagnall, 26, racked up a record speed of 112.29 miles per hour (181 km per hour) for a jet-propelled go-kart.

Animals also feature among the latest world record-breakers.

Dog owner Samantha Valle from the U.S. state of Maryland trained Feather, whom she adopted from a rescue center, to jump over ever higher hurdles until she set a new canine record at 191.7 cm (6.3 feet).

(Reporting by Reuters Television; Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)

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