Wyoming’s Greatest Guinness World Records
When University of Wyoming professor Elizabeth Minton and her husband Daniel recently set a new world record, erecting a two-person tent inside the UW Student Union in one minute and seven seconds, they became the latest in a long line of Cowboy State natives in the Guinness Book.
Here are some of Wyoming's wildest world records.
In 2010, Ed Bruns set a record for the most body piercings when over 1,500 needles were inserted into his body during an event in Gillette. Bruns broke the existing mark by over 300 needles.
In 2013, Jaimie Pierre flew off a 255-foot cliff in Grand Targhee, setting a new record for the world's largest ski jump.
In 2006, at the age of 88, Wyoming native Bob Champion became the oldest man to win a title at the World Horseshoe Pitchers Tournament.
In 1989, Kevin Christopherson flew into the record books, hang-gliding 287 miles from Whiskey Peak, Wyo. to North Dakota. At the time, it was the longest hang-gliding ride ever.
In 2011, Wyoming-based manufacturer Westech’s Flow Control Body set a new mark for the world's largest coal hauler with a 447-ton capacity at the North Antelope Rochelle mine.
Several hunting and fishing records have also been set in the Cowboy State, including an 82-year-old mark for the world's largest bison, which was broken in 2007 when E.D. Riekens Jr. took "Old Lonesome" in the Bridger-Teton National Forrest. The bison's horns measured nearly 3 feet long, shattering the previous record set in Yellowstone National Park in 1925.
For Professor Minton, getting into the Guinness Book is a dream come true.
"I have a bucket list that I'm trying to work my way through," the world's fastest tent-pitcher told Laramie Boomerang. "It's just so exciting to say wow, I'm a world-record holder."
The Mintons aren't the only members of the UW family in the Guinness Book. In 2015, the UW Cowboy Country Swing Club set a record for the world's largest swing dance when 1,184 people danced inside the Fieldhouse with some help from Chancey Williams and The Younger Brothers Band.