Romanian-born Canadian inventor Catalin Alexandru Duru managed to set one of the most amazing world records, flying over 275 meters on a hoverboard he designed himself. The world record attempt took place in August 2014, but Guinness World Records made it official for the first time on Friday, May 22, 2015.

The hoverboard concept first appeared in the Back to the Future II Sci-Fi movie, in 1989, and quickly became very popular. The hoverboard also appeared in Spider Man movies (The Green Goblin flew one), and in the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer movie.

However, it took 25 years for this concept to become real, with Duru’s invention.

“Straight from something out of the future, Canadian inventor Catalin Alexandru Duru's propeller-based hoverboard managed to travel a total distance of 275.9 m (905 ft 2 in) to achieve a new Guinness World Records title for Farthest flight by a hoverboard,” reads the announcement from Guinness World Records, which calls this “an astonishing new world record in the field of future travel”.

Catalin Alexandru Duru managed to get his hoverboard at a height of 5 meters, above Lake Ouareau in Quebec, Canada, and travelled a distance of about three times the length of a football field (which is 90 to 110 meters). He controlled the device which his feet and even managed to have a gentle landing.

The Romanian-born inventor claims that the machine, which he built and designed over the course of 12 months, can be used anywhere and can reach ‘scary heights’ which he would like to potentially explore in the near future.

“This is a truly mesmerizing and incredible feat in the world of engineering and transportation,” said a Guinness World Records spokesperson.

The inventor has even bigger plans for the future. In the past year he has been working on turning his hoverboard into a multicopter. The new machine has under 40 kilograms and very strong engines that could lift and transport a person through the air. “I have made significant advance on this project, but I can’t fully describe it yet. I want it to be a surprise until the official launch,” said Alexandru Duru in an interview with Romanian online newspaper VoceaTransilvaniei.

Catalin Alexandru Duru was born in Suceava, in northern Romania, but he left the country when he was only seven, as his family moved to Casablanca in Morocco. Ten years later he moved to Montreal in Canada.

editor@romania-insider.com