by Peter Bodley
Managing editor

Ben Hiltner has had a dream since childhood of getting his name in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Last week the Coon Rapids resident went a long way toward achieving that goal.

Over two days in the gymnasium at Madison Elementary School, Blaine, where he attended school as a child, Hiltner assembled 30,298 drinking straws which covered 3 miles 1,379 feet of the gym- nasium floor.

Hiltner's effort beats the current Guinness Books of World Records mark of a little over 2.8 miles using 28,000 straws. That record was set in 2001 in Oklahoma City, Okla.

But to claim the new record and be included in the Guinness Book of World Records, Hiltner has to put together a package to send to the Guinness office in London, England.

The package has to include statements from witnesses, a videotape of the finished product and an impartial measurement of the drinking straw chain. That measurement was done by officers from the Blaine Police Department.

"I hope to submit the information in the next week or so," Hiltner said.

But it could take up to three months to get a response from the Guinness Book of World Records depending on how busy they are, he said.

Hiltner assembled the straws over the better part of two days, May 24 and 25, at Madison Elementary School.

He began at 6:30 a.m. May 24 and went to 12:20 a..m. May 25. Then he started again at 6:30 a.m. May 25 and completed the chain at 11:30 p.m. that night.

The morning of May 26 was spent counting the number of straws, making sure they were all attached, getting a video record of the final straw chain and having the count independently verified.

But Hiltner very nearly did not realize his dream.

"I was ready to quit early Tuesday morning," he said.

That was because when he stopped for the night in the early hours of May 25, he was not yet halfway through his effort to break the world record.

"It was physically hard and I was very stiff," Hiltner said.

But when he resumed Tuesday morning, Hiltner found a faster, easier method of assembling the drinking straws which enabled him to finish the project.

Hiltner created the three-mile long drinking straw chain in laps round the gym, from the outside in.

To make it easier to attach the drinking straws, Hiltner pinched the ends in beforehand, he said.

"Ever since I was a boy I wanted to be a Guinness world record holder," Hiltner said.

But as a 30-year-old father of two, Hiltner realized he would never become an all-time RBI hitter in baseball or be the first to ride a unicycle up Mount Everest, he said.

"I needed to find a record that the average person, who can't run very fast or jump very high, could beat if he only had enough time and the conviction to make it happen." Hiltner said.

Researching the Guinness Book of World Records, Hiltner said the drinking straw chain caught his eye and he thought it was doable, he said.

"I did not think it would require a lot of physical ability or endurance and it was a chance to fulfill a childhood dream," Hiltner said.

Hiltner purchased 36,000 drinking straws for $100. He was able to make the purchase through the distributor that supplies drinking straws to the Science Museum of Minnesota, where Hiltner works as an adult computer training instructor.

He decided on Madison Elementary School as the location for the world record attempt because he had gone to school there and got permission from the principal.

"The principal has been supportive," Hiltner said.

And he made a presentation to the Madison student body before starting the project May 24.

Students came through the gym in groups May 26 to see Hiltner's finished product.

Hiltner and his wife, Leeann, have two children, Tim, 3, and Grace, 1.

"It took a while for my wife to accept what I was going to do, but once she did she has been very supportive," Hiltner said.

"My children were more interested in taking it apart."

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