Guinness on the brain

Singaporeans have an obsession with Guinness: not the beer, but getting entries in the book Guinness World Records. The city state may be a dot on the world map, but it does have the world's largest fountain, the coppery Fountain of Wealth at Suntec City; the busiest port by cargo volume; and it's the fastest-growing country through land reclamation as a percentage of its original size. Since 1960 it has added 17 per cent to its original area and, by 2030, this figure is expected to reach 25 per cent.

True to its reputation for being obsessed with food, it is home to the world's largest display of rice dumplings, and holds the record for the most noodles made from a single piece of dough. More bizarrely, it is also home to achievements such as the longest chain of interlinked bras (to promote breast cancer awareness), the longest human domino line - formed by 9,234 students stretching 4.2km - and the biggest game of pass-the-parcel ever held.

In recent weeks, Singaporeans have become even more active than usual in trying to set new records. While the results have not yet been officially authenticated, local golfers recently tried to break the record for the most players (1,700) teeing off simultaneously - on 13 courses.

Meanwhile, Singapore's much-touted 'adventurer', Khoo Swee Chiow, broke the Guinness record of 212 hours and 30 minutes for the longest scuba dive in a controlled environment. He stayed underwater for seven hours and 30 minutes longer than the previous record holder.

Dr William Tan Kian Meng, a paralympic wheelchair athlete, tried to set a Guinness record for the most distance travelled over 24 hours on a hand-powered cycle. He managed 264km, which was much shorter than the existing record. But a claim will be made anyway because he cycled on a polyurethane surface while the record was set on a road track.

Locals will attempt to break another Guinness record next month: bursting more than 2006 balloons within 10 seconds. Is this just a mindless exercise in boosting national pride? Not at all: apparently, collective attempts at world records are good for building a sense of community.