what is the record???
It takes some time to compile all the paperwork, get the witnesses to sign off, get pics and/or vids, and submit it off to Guinness. Then Guinness takes their sweet time about replying. Only if you pay 300 Pounds to them for “expedited” service do they promise a swift reply. Neither Ken nor I discovered the finality of our attempts until a few months later when Guinness said they reviewed both our time sheets and found the 1-hour period during Ken’s ride that was the fastest.
So it’s not official until Guinness decides it, and because they are a commercial enterprise and not a governing body, they encourage the paid service, and feel like they can take their time about it otherwise. And in this case, they obviously knew more than one person was going to attempt at about the same time (my attempt was originally scheduled earlier but delayed due to facility issues).
So yes, it can take quite a time after one clearly breaks an existing record to find out. By the time Guinness gets around to deciding, someone else may have registered to schedule or report an attempt, then they delay more.
These are even more reasons why we should have the IUF keep all generally-recognized unicycling records…By the way, when are they gonna announce and publish (for the first time) what the current non-NAUCC world records are (i.e., the record categories they approved last May)?