Night they toasted records from Wales to Indonesia

FROM a tiny village in Wales to one of the world’s smallest cities, more than 7,000 miles apart, a number of celebrations were taking place last night after three world records were claimed.

For more than four decades, the world’s top football clubs have been vying to break the record for the longest winning streak.

But a team that started life in the tiny Welsh village of Llansantffraid-ymMechain has broken the 44-year-old record held by one of the greatest Dutch sides in history, Ajax.

Ajax won 27 games in a row in 197172. But after beating Cefn Druids 2-0 on Friday, Welsh Premier League champions the New Saints took the title.

Another feat was that of Nottinghambased cyclist Kajsa Tylen who yesterday smashed the 78-year record for the greatest distance cycled by a woman in a year.

The 40-year-old broke the 1938 record set by Billie Fleming, who cycled 29,603 miles, after riding 32,326 miles through eight countries in Europe. Tylen said: “I set out on New Year’s Day with the objective to achieve ‘a year in the saddle’ and set a new Guinness World Record and am delighted to have done so.”

Meanwhile, 7,600 miles away in the Indonesian city of Sragen, which has a population the size of Carlisle, a man claimed he was celebrating his 146th birthday.

If he is right, he will be the oldest in the world. Mbah Gotho has not surprisingly outlived all 10 of his siblings as well as his four wives.

The Indonesian records office confirmed his birth date, but it has not been independently verified. Officially the title belongs to a French woman, Jeanne Calment, who lived to be 122.