Guinness Responds Regarding Parvaneh Moayedi World Records

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Parvaneh Moayedi recently claimed her 1001st Marathon completed. I have written a few articles pointing to the evidence and eyewitness accounts disputing the authenticity of this claim. I have previously written about her Guinness records.
 
Most Marathons Run in One Year (female) – 168 (November 11 2012 – November 10 2013)
Most Consecutive Days To Run An Official Marathon (female) – 17 (December 21, 2012 – January 6 2013)
Here is the response I received from Guinness:
 
 
Hi Derek,
Thank you for contacting Guinness World Records.

 

All of our records are very strictly reviewed and require extensive guidelines to be adhered to and evidence to be submitted. That said, our Records Management Team takes all records very seriously and any evidence that could affect the record attempt would be taken into account. In regards to Parvaneh Moayedi, our Records Management Team has extensively reviewed the evidence provided for these particular record categories and has not found any grounds to disqualify her attempts.
 
 “In regards to Parvaneh Moayedi, our Records Management Team has extensively reviewed the evidence provided for these particular record categories and has not found any grounds to disqualify her attempts.”
 
 
The statement above is baffling. Boiling this down to the most straightforward facts relating to her record for most marathons in a calendar year:
 
 
Here she claims that she ran simultaneous marathons on two consecutive days. On Friday, August 16th, in both San Antonio TX and Huntington Beach, CA. Followed by a double in California on 8/17, and a single marathon in Anaheim, CA on Sunday 8/18.  How can an “extensive review” rationalize Parvaneh being in two places at the same time?
 
Throughout September and October 2013, she lists similar CA/TX doubles in her results.
All of the above California races except for the 10/4 race in San Francisco are part of Charlie Alewine Racing.

For some records, Guinness is extremely strict in their criteria for documentation. In the case of these ‘most marathon’ records, Parvaneh exploited a weakness in their criteria. She created her own races, and was able to essentially validate her own results for the I Ran Marathons, 80 of her record marathons were part of her own race series.

If you would like to contact Guinness regarding these records – if you have additional information or just want to make your opinion heard, you can contact them through their site.
 
 

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2 COMMENTS

  1. It sounds as if Guinness considers this as "self-reported" record. I am sure they didn't bother to send out someone from their staff to observe Parvaneh's marathons like they would for a "heaviest lift" record. The Guinness name has lost credibility in recent years.

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