Fort Scott Youth Activities Team members (from left) Amanda Johnson, Kim Henry, Diana Mitchell and Clayton Tatro celebrate setting the new Guinness World Record Friday night at Fort Scott Middle School. At this point, the effort was about a half-mile better than the previous record of 34.57 miles set in 1995. --Scott Nuzum/Herald-Tribune

Fort Scott, Kan. -- The Youth Activities Team (YAT), along with the help of several area volunteers, groups of people and various organizations, have once again worked Fort Scott into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Shortly before 8 p.m. Friday, Kaoru Ishikawa, a records manager for Guinness World Records, officially sanctioned a new world record of 35.1 miles as the longest end-to-end penny chain, a feat achieved by the YAT group and many others who have worked since Tuesday in an attempt to lay a continuous 40-mile chain in the Fort Scott Middle School parking lot.

The record is temporary as volunteers continued working late Friday evening in an attempt to set a final official record of 40 miles.

The new record beat the previous record of 34.57 miles of pennies by about half a mile. The old record was achieved by the World Wide Fund for Nature in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1995. The new record is expected to be published in the 2010 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

The grid of pennies that the group has worked on the last few days consists of 37 total sectors of pennies. Each sector is 32 pennies, or three feet wide, and on average, about 180 feet long. The entire project consists of nearly four million pennies.

Sean Durnal (at left in black shirt), 17, Fort Scott, raises his hand in celebration after setting a new world record by eating 5 McDonald's quarter pounders with cheese in under three minutes. The previous record was 4 quarter pounders in three minutes. Also pictured are Durnal's friend Denver Mitchell (gray shirt) and Guinness World Records records manager Kaoru Ishikawa (with stopwatch). --Kenny Felt/captured images

Just moments after the previous world record was broken, YAT co-convenor Clayton Tatro was fielding calls on his cell phone, but paused to comment on the momentous occasion.

"It's totally amazing," Tatro said. "The community support has been phenomenal, the support from businesses, organizations, it's unbelievable. It's a testament to the community spirit of Fort Scott that something like this can get done that will ultimately benefit area youth."

Local resident Erin Floyd, who spent portions of two days working to arrange pennies on the grid, completed a six-hour shift just moments after the old record was overtaken. Floyd said the broken record was not the only accomplishment that the YAT group had achieved.

"It's been really good for not only the record, but for what it's going toward -- the park," Floyd said. "It's very worthwhile."

Local resident Daryl Roller, who was also working to lay pennies on Friday, echoed Floyd's comments.

"It's great, especially to see so many cross sections of the community out here and such a diverse group of people," Roller said. "And they're all having fun doing it."

The record came just one day after YAT and hundreds of other volunteers overtook the previous world record for laying the fastest mile of pennies -- the YAT effort took two hours, 23 minutes and one second. The team's record-breaking score beat the previous world record that was held by a group of teachers and students at a primary school in the United Kingdom, by one minute and 14 seconds.

The world record feats are part of a "Pennies in the Park" fundraiser that YAT has conducted the last several months to collect money to pay for upgrades and improvements to Ellis Park. Renovations would include new batting cages, a miniature golf course, sand volleyball, a walking trail, and other improvements. The group has collected more than $34,000 worth of pennies since starting the fundraiser.