Pennies saved to become records earned

The first coin was placed on the ground Tuesday evening.

By Friday night, the group had assembled a 64-kilometre-long chain of pennies in a school parking lot.

Volunteer Diana Mitchell says it's "pretty awesome."

An official from Guinness World Records says it's the longest line of pennies ever assembled, eclipsing the old mark by more than eight kilometres.

The previous record was 55.6 kilometres, set in Malaysia in 1995.

"They set the record for the longest line of coins and the whole community came together," said Kaoru Ishikawa, a Guinness record manager. "It's been quite a moving time."

It was the second record set in this town just west of the Missouri line. On Thursday night, volunteers and members of the Fort Scott Youth Activities Team put down a mile, or 1.6 kilometres of pennies in a time of 2:23.01.

That was just 74 seconds faster than the previous record of 2:24.15, set in February by teachers and pupils in Rickmansworth, United Kingdom, Ishikawa said.

Residents of Fort Scott, just west of the Missouri line, are spending the week trying to break two world records: the longest line of pennies and assembling a mile of pennies in the fastest time.

Members of the Fort Scott Youth Activities Teams and hundreds of volunteers are trying to create a 64-kilometre chain of pennies - nearly four million - in the parking lot of Fort Scott Middle School. The effort started Tuesday and will be judged by Guinness World Records on Friday.

The record for laying the fastest mile of pennies is two hours, 24 minutes, 15 seconds, set in February by teachers and pupils in the United Kingdom, said Kaoru Ishikawa, a records manager with Guinness.

The mark for the longest line of pennies is 55.63 kilometres, set Aug. 6, 1995, in Malaysia.

The stunt is part of an effort to raise money for about $4 million in improvements at Ellis Park in Fort Scott.