Hey guys my name is Rhys Kember im 19 Years old and have 2 Guinness world records. I am the 1st person in the world to do a back flip on a unicycle and i also have the record for the highest drop on a unicycle. I love my extreme sports and plan to break more records. love ya’s all and god bless…
If you google the name, you find a few more results about him apparently being the first to land a backflip. Does anyone know if this is true? Surely there would be some footage available if it were.
Hopefully someone can sed some light on this topic.
Ahhh I seem to remember watching a youtube video where a guy does a backflip on a unicycle, he does it off like 5ft of Pallet and lands on the ground - I have no idea whether or not it’s this Rhys Kember you’re referring too but it may well be…
Trying to find the video but I don’t remember much of the info about it…
Rhys is a rider here from Canberra. I remember his claims to doing a unicycle backflip (not landing afaik) but i have never seen any footage of it- or seen him attempt it since. He still rides and attended the australian Uninats this year and competed in the trials comp. Not sure how he went but there was not any ground breaking riding or flipping from him this year.
Interesting, I wonder if Rhys is on the forums to fill us in himself. To be honest, if you could do a backflip, would you not film it and blast it all over the internet? If he did enter it as a Guinness World Record, surely there would be some record of that too?
It’s not in my nature to call someone a liar but…I don’t know what else to assume.
From what we’ve seen of Adrian, the frontflip is pretty hard and takes a ton of committment. Also I think a backflip would be harder, due to the mechanics of the body (harder to carry that unicycle around against the direction your waist bends). I think you would need more height to pull it off.
I knew a guy who could do a forward flip on a tightwire. Interestingly, the forward flip is the hard one there, where you can’t see your landing spot until the last second. Backflips are much easier (and more common in performances) because you can spot your landing much earlier.
A few people said he attempted frontflips off some pallets and that he had landed it before but I don’t know if anyone believed him. I’ve never heard anything from him about a backflip. But if its in guinness, must be official.
From my quick research it also looks like the drop record is not held by him as well, but rather Alex Toms who dropped a little over 8ft on tape with Guinness watching.
Being from Guinness doesn’t mean much as far as I’m concerned. Just because Guinness was there to watch does not mean someone hasn’t done the same thing better or higher or longer. The whole tallest unicycle in the world records that Guiness has watched over kinda leaves me with little faith in their ability to ensure a proper record.
yea i remember rhys telling me he had landed a backflip but ive never seen any proof. he also attempted front flips about a year ago now at the Newtown Trial Demo but he didnt land them. id never heard about his 3m drop record tho, i thought it was just tomsey with his 2.5m drop (and there is proof of alex toms doing that). i might send him a message on facebook to find out if there is any video etc.
Agreed, I thoroughly dislike Guinnesss World Records because they get to choose what they watch/monitor and what they decide isn’t worth it.
I have friends who have the record for various things on jumping stilts but because Guinness haven’t recorded it, it means it isn’t an official record.
Who put Guinness in charge of what is a record and what isn’t!
They do make mistakes, and sometimes what they have on record has been surpassed. But what they do have is a huge international audience, so it’s a great resume credit to have a Guinness listing. Assuming one actually has one. Some people have been known to claim it without an actual record to back it up…
Which record? I assume you mean Steve McPeak in 1980? Sure, the cable was clearly (to us) supporting the unicycle the whole time, but he did actually “ride” it. Or pedaled it? I got the impression that there had been so much money and possibly advertising/marketing wrapped up in that event that the show “had to go on” as it were, and they did the show (it was a TV special). Separately, the Guinness people had to decide that this was a legitimate ride though. Not sure how they managed that…
Sadly, having a Guinness World Record doesn’t even necessarily mean anyone from Guinness was there.
We were contacted by Guinness regarding one of our projects a while ago, and they basically just wanted us to provide some information and a witness they could contact.
Perhaps they handle things differently in the world of sports.
No, you’re right. As far as I know, all you need is video footage and two independant witnesses to break a record. To be honest, it makes life easier and makes breaking a record far more accessible. If you want an official judge to come out and adjudicate, it can cost up to 5,000 pounds/ 8,000 dollars.
Oh well, the whole reason I put this up was to find out if this actually happened. I think we can safely say, it didn’t. If anyone who knows the guy personally and can prove otherwise, post back, would love to be corrected!
Nobody. Guinness is only in charge of what’s a Guinness record. They are not in charge of Olympic records, NBA records, National Tiddlywink Association records, etc. For unicycling, they prefer that a recognized organization like the IUF does the officiating, and just supplies them with a list.
That said, it’s still entirely up to them which records they include, in which countries, in their books. Usually if a Guinness official is present at an event, it’s part of a larger event, TV show or other promotion that Guinness is a part of.
For my record (100 meter sprint, 1987), which was set at Unicon III, we had electronic timing, loads of witnesses, photography and probably video, and the race was run by an organization with much practice in running unicycle races (the JUA). Later on, a fact-checker from the Guinness organization contacted me to have me confirm all the details of the record, which appeared first in the 1989 book in the US. I was in until 1992, when they forgot to take me out; my record was in there with Peter Rosendahl’s faster record.
personally i dont give a shit about the guiness world records. the records they accept r just for their own book, doesnt necessarily mean it is the world record.
also i got a reply from rhys and he said he’ll put them both on youtube somtime soon. he’ll keep me updated and i will therefore let u all know wen its up
