World Skipping Record

The world’s fastest skipper Ashrita Furman recently broke his Guinness World Record for skipping the fastest 5K in just under 30 minutes!

He broke the record while visiting Bali and to celebrate, he skipped 50-yards with an orangutan’s on his back! Here’s a short excerpt from a post on Ashrita’s blog that is written from the orangutan’s perspective!

Okay, I’m as open minded as the next orangutan but, if you ask me, the human currently skipping around the Safari Park is a few bananas short of a bunch – if you know what I mean. Let’s face it, humans walk weird enough as it is – using only two legs instead of on going all fours. But on top of that, this maniac is doing some awkward movement that my trainer calls “skipping”. For God’s sake, it’s 85 degrees outside and the humidity is off the charts.

Uh oh, the skipping guy (I nicknamed him “Skippy”) seems to have finished and is looking in my direction. Rian is carrying me over to the nut and…wait! What’s going on?! Rian is putting me on Skippy’s back. This is embarrassing! It’s a good thing that the other orangs aren’t here to see this. As it is, Theresa, the elephant who is on the course, is going to have a field day with this with the other pachyderms. I’ll see if I can bribe her with some bananas to keep quiet.

All right, I guess it wasn’t as bad as I feared. Skippy only skipped with me for a few minutes and then Rian retrieved me. After the group photo, I heard Skippy telling a reporter that he skipped for 5 kilometers or 3.1 miles in just under 30 minutes, and that he was breaking some kind of Guinness record. He said he loves to skip because it’s such good exercise and so joyful. Well, good for him. I guess you can’t always judge a mango by its skin.

Canadian Skipper Extraordinaire

We’ve met many passionate skippers in the 11+ years we’ve been promoting at iSkip.com…but we’ve never encountered anyone with the vision, passion, and focus of Toronto’s Dawna Marie Wright.

Our skipping paths crossed when iSkip’s Kim Corbin read a post Dawna had left in the Urban Prankster discussion board in order to inspire flash mobbers and performance artists to participate in the first annual SKIPPING UP AND DOWN THE STREET DAY (SUDS) she’s organizing on Sunday July 31, 2011.

We asked Dawna about SUDS, her love for skipping, and more in this recent email interview…

When did you start skipping as an adult? About 4 yrs ago, I was walking with a friend who was feeling blue and I said, “Hey, let’s Skip!” and we did. We felt silly at first as people were looking at us and wondering, “what the??????” That helped us realized we liked feeling silly..and soon we were laughing and the blues began to melt away

What do you most enjoy about skipping? I like how it makes me feel..It puts me back in touch with my little girl self, full of joy and wonder.The added bonus is of course that as an adult it’s a fun way to get the heart rate up! especially if you don’t like to do aerobics or go to the gym.

What advice do you have for anyone who is hesitant to skip for fear of looking silly? Do it with a friend.. Make it a moment you can both laugh about and remember. And remember what it was like when you were a little kid.. Everyone still has a little bit of mischief in them somewhere;)

Where is your favorite place to skip? I really like being barefoot as much as possible and just came back from Costa Rica..so I’d have to say The Beach!

Tell us about SUDS! SUDS is the Acronymn for the “SKipPing Up & Down the Street Day” event I am organizing. I thought giving it an acronymn would make it a little more catchy than the long title. and even lead the way for those who were curious as to what SUDS meant/stood for:)

What inspired you to create a Skipping Up and Down the Street Day? Hmm.. It was a few years ago when I initially thought about this, “What if there was a recognized day that people could skip everywhere and anywhere without onlookers thinking they were ‘crazy’ so to speak?” Because of the advent of social media and Facebook and being able to get the word/idea out more easily I started to seriously put it into motion last summer when I was sitting around wondering what kind of good trouble I could cause. Why? I like to experiment and see what happens.) I want this to be an annual event that is as recognized as World Laughter Day (May 2nd). So far, so good.:)

How can people participate in SUDS? What do they need to do? July 31, 2011 is the inaugural date to celebrate those who already skip whenever they feel like it. It’s also the day or those who are closet skippers and/or shy to do it in public. Even it’s just a few skips on their way to work, school, or the grocery store….this is the day to give yourself permission to skip and to know that you aren’t alone. In fact, there are legions of SkiPpers from every continent!

There are plenty of ways skippers can participate.
*Visit the event’s website and become a member and/or RSVP on the event’s Facebook page.
*Make a skipping video to share your love of skipping with the world. Skipping at night? Skipping in the snow? The possibilities are endless.
*Helps us spread the word by inviting your friends and family to participate.
*Organize a fund raising skip in your home town on July 31, 2011 for the nonprofit of your choice.

We hope you will join us in supporting Dawna in the realization of her SUDS vision! RSVP on Facebook or become a member of the event’s website to show your support… also be sure to check out this fun skipping video she did to spread the word about the event:

Skip on Dawna! Skip on world!

Simon Skips!

We discovered Amsterdam based skipper Simon Groen thanks to the wildly popular YouTube skipping video he produced and starred in that has nearly 77K views and counting.

iSkip founder Kim Corbin recently had the opportunity to skip with Simon when he was visiting the San Francisco Bay area, and she asked him the following questions about his video and passion for skipping.

What inspired your video? One day I just started skipping spontaneously. A friend of mine laughed at me and as a result I tried some different kinds of skipping. Then I found comedy by skipping very energetically, while at the same moment keeping my facial expression very neutral/serious. It’s a comedian thing to search for the comic in every action.

Are you a regular skipper? Yes Definitely. I skip at least once a week.

Do you think that skipping makes the world a better place? If so, how?Skipping represents the light, happy and bright side of life. Life should be effortless in a way and skipping refers to that. Therefore I believe it makes the world a better place.

How has your video been received? Our skipping video is one of our best reviewed videos! Also some people say it reminds them of Monty Pythons ‘Ministry of Silly Walks’. I also think the success of this video can be explained by a deep human desire for skipping.

Here’s Simon’s amazing video. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!