COACHED RECORD ATTEMPT
What started with tossing a frisbee around at an inline skating camp turned into months of training and a shared attempt at six Guinness World Records — three for Ashley and three for me.
RECORDS ATTEMPTED
Women’s Maximum Time Aloft, Throw, Run and Catch, and Self-Caught Flight on Inline Skates
THE OPPORTUNITY
A playful idea became something worth training for.
I met Ashley Wager while she was working as an instructor at an Alien Inline summer camp. I had brought some frisbees with me, and Ashley started throwing with us during the camp. She was playful with it, willing to experiment and clearly having fun trying something different.
That eventually led to a much bigger idea. I had been thinking about Self-Caught Flight records on inline skates — events where you throw the disc yourself and then catch it while still on skates — and I suggested that Ashley could pursue the women’s records while I went after the men’s.
From there, it became something we could train for together. Ashley already had the skating skills, but combining those skills with the timing, throwing and catching required for Self-Caught Flight created a new challenge. We began practising, testing different approaches and working toward a specific date when we would attempt all six records.
What I liked about the idea was that it came naturally out of play. There wasn’t a long-term plan to turn Ashley into a world-record holder when we first met. We were simply throwing a frisbee around, wondering what might be possible, and eventually found a challenge that was difficult enough to be worth pursuing.
THE ATTEMPT
Months of preparation came together in one afternoon.
On September 24, 2022, Ashley and I met at Grey Eagle Casino in Calgary for the official record attempts. Supporters from Alien Inline came out to watch, and photographer Robert Engelbrecht was there to document the day.
We had six Guinness World Records to attempt between us: three women’s records for Ashley and the corresponding three men’s records for me. Each required a different combination of throwing, skating, timing and catching, so the day wasn’t about performing one skill once. We had prepared for several different challenges and needed to execute each of them under record-attempt conditions.
By the end of the event, Ashley had successfully set all three women’s Guinness World Records and I had set the three men’s records. What had started months earlier as a simple idea at an inline skating camp ended with six new records established in one shared event.
The records themselves were exciting, but the day was also the result of everything that had happened beforehand: learning how the disc behaved while moving on skates, figuring out techniques that worked, practising the catches and gradually turning something unfamiliar into something we could perform when it mattered.
WATCH THE STORY
Ashley Sets 3 Guinness World Records
WHAT IT CREATED
One challenge gave both of us something new to pursue.
Ashley’s story is one of my favourite examples of how a record can begin with curiosity rather than a carefully mapped-out plan.
She already knew how to skate. I knew flying disc skills and had experience pursuing records. Putting those two things together created a challenge neither of us had attempted before, and training together gave us a chance to learn from the process as well as the final result.
It also reinforced something that has become important in World Record Mindset™: sometimes the right target appears because someone is willing to play with an idea long enough to ask, “What could we do with this?”
The answer doesn’t have to be obvious at the beginning. Ashley didn’t need to know she was capable of setting three Guinness World Records the first time she picked up a frisbee at camp. We simply needed a target worth exploring and a way to begin making progress toward it.
The story continued beyond the attempt itself. Ashley and I were both later featured in the 2024 Guinness World Records book, giving the experience another life long after the final catches had been made.
For me, the whole experience is a reminder that play, curiosity and serious goals don’t have to live in separate worlds. Sometimes playing around with something new is exactly where the next meaningful challenge begins.
Curiosity started the conversation. A meaningful target gave us something to pursue together.
YOUR NEXT RECORD
What could your next record be?
Whether it’s a world record, an organizational record or a personal best, the first step is identifying a target worth changing for.