An article about Ashrita Furman’s world record attempt at balancing the longest length of a pole on your chin this site. Aspendos – What magic and charm is to be found within that name! This is the masterpiece of ancient history, located fifty kilometres from Antalya, Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. Zeno, a Roman architect built an amphitheatre from granite in AD 162. This was a perfect acoustic-visual shell. You could view pageants, dramas, and even heroic athletic feats through the four levels of ascending marble seats.

A visitor from New York brought that amazing spirit back to life on December 13, when he did deeds in Herculean proportions. Ashrita Furman has set 126 Guinness World Records, including categories such as pogostick jumping; somersaulting; ball balancing; hopping; skipping and juggling.

Ashrita is always in search of stunning backdrops to record on, so he chose Aspendos as his venue. His latest record attempt was to balance the largest object on his chin. Previous record was a 13 meter long pole. Ashrita had brought a telescopic fibreglass mast that could be opened up in sections to the height that he wanted to Turkey.

He decided that he would warm up by using 15 metres (50ft) of length. Attaching the distinctive red Turkish flag and its golden crescent moon & star to the tapered pole tip, he said “Thank you!” His assistants helped him raise the pole up to the top and then lifted it to his neck. It moved in the wind as a bamboo tree-like shape, and it bent in the wind. The Turkish flag was flapping and dragging the pole closer to the centre. Ashrita managed to balance his pole on his chin for just a moment, but then he quit.