There’s a new geeky duo that claim the title of being the fastest to ride the entire New York City Subway system.  Back in December of 2006, some guys broke the old record by an hour.

The new record holders claim to have beaten the record by a couple of hours.  How did they do it? Math.

Chris Solarz and Matt Ferrisi are a pair of computer/financial geeks that used computer models to calculate the best plan of attack.  They entered in all of the relevant data, including number of stops, lines, train schedules, distances, etc.  Their program then did the trillions of riding combinations to produce the one that would yeild the fastest ride.

Apparently it all worked, because they smashed the old record without really breaking a sweat.  From the beginning, they started gaining time, finding themselves ahead of schedule.

This time, they are going to have to report their record to the Guinness Book with documentation.  The last record breaking caught a lot of media attention, and the attention of Guinness officials.  So when the previous record was broken, it was certified very quickly.

Along the way, the men had to get witness signatures and take plenty of photos to document the trip.  All of the documentation then gets turned in.  So as of now, they are the unofficial record holders.

The previous team did a far better job of publicizing their record breaking attempt (including sending info to SUBWAYblogger).  This crew flew under the radar for the most part.  Their attempt did get some mainstream coverge though.