Local teens break world record for longest handshake

• Let's shake on it

Woodbury High School students Nathan Herzberg and Kyle Swanson unofficially broke the world record for the longest handshake Tuesday. They are sending their evidence into the Guinness World Book of records.

Talk about it

Two local youth are a few official steps away from having their names and hands entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for longest handshake.

On Tuesday, Aug. 31,Woodbury High School juniors Nathan Herzberg and Kyle Swanson unofficially broke the world for the world’s longest hand shake of 10 hours.

“I’m so unbelievably excited right now,” Herzberg said. “I can’t believe we actually pulled it off.”

Herzberg and Swanson decided to break the record for handshaking because they said they have a habit of handshaking and they were curious to see what the world record was.

The teens said it was really simple to decide to try for the record since the time was relatively short for a world record.

“We were surprised by how short it was,” Herzberg said. “And I’ve always wanted to break a world record.”

When they were just starting out for the record, Herzberg and Swanson said the only imaginable reason they would not break the record would be if they got cramps in their arms or hands.

Herzberg said about seven or eight hours in, he definitely started to feel the cramps in his arms and hands, but that wasn’t going to stop him from breaking the record.

“We were so determined,” he said.

This marks the second attempt at breaking the record for the teens. They attempted to break the record last Thursday but had to stop due to technical difficulties.

In order for Guinness to verify the record, there must be video evidence. Herzberg and Swanson were filming the handshake through their lap top, and seven hours into the handshake, they ran out of memory.

Heraberg said they almost got foiled again by the video camera, but luckily they made the grade.

“We worried there for a while,” Herzberg said. “I still can’t believe we did it.”

Tags: local news, guinness world book of records, longest handshake, news, woodbury