FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE - September 2, 2006
Why
Are We Doing This?
On September 14, 1992, six boys set
out from Middle Village, Staten Island, Bay Ridge, Manhattan, The
Bronx and Secaucus for their first full day of classes as high school
freshmen. While their friends next door were still asleep, they were
making their way to the school via the Staten Island Ferry, New
Jersey Transit and primarily the NYC Subway System. Their average
commute was over one hour each way and their final destination was 86th
Street on the Lexington Avenue Line.
At 12 and 13 years old, they
weren't you average commuters, but over the next four years they got
to know the system better than most. Travel for track practice,
basketball games and debate tournaments almost always required a
subway trip and since only 12 of the 129 graduates in their class
called Manhattan home, a trip to a friend's house almost always
required a couple of transfers.
From the many hours they rode the
system in high
school, they developed a love/hate relationship with the subway - at
times it felt like they lived below ground, but the breadth of the
system allowed them to get almost anywhere in the city for
$1.50...well, they actually had student passes that allowed them to
ride for free.
Ten years later, the routine hasn't
changed dramatically even though the home station has for most of
them. At times they harkened back to freshman year when they
heard Bill Amarosa talk about the subway system and about making an
attempt at the record, but for most it had faded to black until
their ten-year reunion. Then on June 17, 2006 all the
questions Bill received whether he ever made a record attempt
re-ignited the passion to set the record.
Inspiration
The idea of an attempt was first
hatched by Bill Amarosa who had seen the record in the Guinness
World Records. Bill talked about it since we first met in
1992 as twelve-year-olds, but it wasn't until our ten-year high
school reunion on June 17, 2006 that we began serious preparation.
We are not
making this attempt as a reaction to Matt Green and Donald Badaczewski's
ride on August 23-24, 2006. In fact, you'll see we registered
our domain name six weeks earlier - on July 13, 2006 - in
preparation for our attempt.
Green was quoted in
the Metro NY paper as saying, "We want to inspire as many
people as possible to do this." We support that sentiment
and encourage people to go after both the passing-all-stations and
touching-all-stations records.
As native New Yorkers,
we are also proud to return the record to our hometown. The six
members of the team represent each of the five boroughs, and will be
the first record holders from New York City in decades.
The Different
Records
The passing-all-stations
rules followed by Green /
Badaczewski are designed for speed as it allows you to
skip stations by taking express trains through stations without
stopping. It also counts multiple stations as one as
long as they are connected by a passageway. This record is now
24 hours and 2 minutes.
The
touching-all-stations rules
set by Guinness and followed by
Kevin Foster require you to stop at every station - there are currently 468
- and you must visit multiple stations even if connected by a passageway.
Riders are allowed to exit the system and re-enter at another
point, so long as their means of transportation is by foot or public
bus. This record is now 26
hours and 21 minutes.
Our Attempt
Our primary aim is to break the Guinness
World Record, so we will be follow those rules, stopping at all 468 stations in the system. We have
requested and received an official list from MTA New York City
Transit of all the
stations so as to eliminate any question as to which platforms we
need to visit at a complex that serves multiple lines.
Though the Guinness
rules allow you to exit system, we do agree with the rule that you should not be allowed to exit the
system, so we will also remain "below ground" the entire
time and will each be using a
single-ride Metro Card. As a side note, we do not think there
is a significant time advantage gained by exiting the system and traveling on
foot or on bus to re-enter on another line.
