2008 Woodie Awards
UAA student spins into record books with human hamster wheel
Kyra Sherwood
Issue date: 7/29/08 Section: Sports
When UAA student Andy Liebner decided to try making the Guinness Book of World Records, he didn't go for something a little more standard, like the most freethrows in a minute, or Alaska-oriented, like scaling Mt. McKinley without oxygen. To get him in the listings, they'll have to make a brand-new category: Liebner designed and built what should soon be known as the world's largest human hamster wheel, which measures 15 feet standing upright.
"I thought it would be a healthy and nature-friendly treadmill," Liebner, a physical education major, said. "I made all the dimensions and things from a math class, so I figured I might as well try to make use of it somehow. I just wanted to make a treadmill to see if I could do it, and then I got looking in the Guinness Book of Records to see what the largest one was, and there wasn't one on record. So I just tried to build it as big as I could."
The project, finally completed at the beginning of June, began in that math class about two years ago and lay dormant until Natalie Semmens, a graduate of UAA's School of Nursing and a classmate of Liebner's, came back to town and revived the idea. She was committed, too; Liebner was recovering from knee surgery, which left Semmens to do all the grunt work. She didn't mind, Liebner said; when they met again about a month after his surgery, she reminded him of his old idea in the first place. He told her she'd have to do the heavy lifting, but she wasn't deterred.
"She was more into it than I was," Liebner said. "I did most of the planning, but Natalie did all the running around."
Converting the plans into reality took 91 5-inch-by-3-foot planks, the frame of an old swing set, and about 15 hours total over four days, but at the end, the giant structure dominated Liebner's yard, a little rickety but stable and functional. More importantly, Liebner and Semmens had finished it without additional guidance.
"I didn't really ask for any help," Liebner said. "I drew the plans a couple years ago, but we didn't really look at them; we just kind of went with it as we went."
Despite Liebner's original intention of creating an environmentally friendly treadmill, the human hamster wheel hasn't seen much use. He'd planned to see it entered in the Guinness Book and then donate the wheel to a nearby day care center, figuring it could make a good play-area boundary lying on its side. That didn't pan out, but he said he's still going through Guinness's somewhat lengthy process. Liebner said he hadn't heard back from Guinness yet but that processing for a record-breaking attempt usually takes 4-6 weeks.
And what will happen to Liebner's giant hamster wheel after it's found a place for itself in the list of world records? Liebner wasn't sure, but he emphasized the importance of the lessons he learned rather than the physical accomplishment.
"Anybody who's really heard about it, they didn't think that we were actually going to follow through with building it, they didn't believe that it was gonna work, that the stand would hold, that it would even stand evenly," he said. "But I just kept a really high level of optimism and a positive attitude toward everything, and just bounced off their negativity and proved everyone wrong."
See Liebner and Semmens' wheel in action at mefeedia.com/entry/video-worlds-largest-human-hamster-wheel/9827424; find out more about Guinness World Records at www.guinnessworldrecords.com.
"I thought it would be a healthy and nature-friendly treadmill," Liebner, a physical education major, said. "I made all the dimensions and things from a math class, so I figured I might as well try to make use of it somehow. I just wanted to make a treadmill to see if I could do it, and then I got looking in the Guinness Book of Records to see what the largest one was, and there wasn't one on record. So I just tried to build it as big as I could."
The project, finally completed at the beginning of June, began in that math class about two years ago and lay dormant until Natalie Semmens, a graduate of UAA's School of Nursing and a classmate of Liebner's, came back to town and revived the idea. She was committed, too; Liebner was recovering from knee surgery, which left Semmens to do all the grunt work. She didn't mind, Liebner said; when they met again about a month after his surgery, she reminded him of his old idea in the first place. He told her she'd have to do the heavy lifting, but she wasn't deterred.
"She was more into it than I was," Liebner said. "I did most of the planning, but Natalie did all the running around."
Converting the plans into reality took 91 5-inch-by-3-foot planks, the frame of an old swing set, and about 15 hours total over four days, but at the end, the giant structure dominated Liebner's yard, a little rickety but stable and functional. More importantly, Liebner and Semmens had finished it without additional guidance.
"I didn't really ask for any help," Liebner said. "I drew the plans a couple years ago, but we didn't really look at them; we just kind of went with it as we went."
Despite Liebner's original intention of creating an environmentally friendly treadmill, the human hamster wheel hasn't seen much use. He'd planned to see it entered in the Guinness Book and then donate the wheel to a nearby day care center, figuring it could make a good play-area boundary lying on its side. That didn't pan out, but he said he's still going through Guinness's somewhat lengthy process. Liebner said he hadn't heard back from Guinness yet but that processing for a record-breaking attempt usually takes 4-6 weeks.
And what will happen to Liebner's giant hamster wheel after it's found a place for itself in the list of world records? Liebner wasn't sure, but he emphasized the importance of the lessons he learned rather than the physical accomplishment.
"Anybody who's really heard about it, they didn't think that we were actually going to follow through with building it, they didn't believe that it was gonna work, that the stand would hold, that it would even stand evenly," he said. "But I just kept a really high level of optimism and a positive attitude toward everything, and just bounced off their negativity and proved everyone wrong."
See Liebner and Semmens' wheel in action at mefeedia.com/entry/video-worlds-largest-human-hamster-wheel/9827424; find out more about Guinness World Records at www.guinnessworldrecords.com.
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