Annals Of (Very) Dubious Achievement (Valentine’s Edition)…
A Swedish couple–Clara Ahlstroem, 38, and Hannu Kiviaho, 41–yesterday set the Swedish record for the longest kiss. Remarkably, given Sweden’s racy reputation, it took a liplock lasting a measly 1 hour and 34 minutes to take the title. That puts them in the pucker minor leagues. The world record, which has been held by two extremely amorous Americans since 1991, stands at a lip-bruising 30 hours, 59 minutes and 27 seconds. Alstroem and Kiviaho, of course, had an excuse for their pathetic showing. They claimed Clara had a nasty cold.
Okay, you might not consider this an extreme sport. But you would be wrong. Because according to Swedish pharmacy Apoteket (which sponsored the Swedes) a peck on the cheek requires the use of 12 separate facial muscles, and a French kiss employs an energy-sapping 34. Moreover, kissers burn an impressive four calories a minute. So you can log some pretty decent exercise this way. But make sure you know who your workout partner is. Apoteket, which was hoping to promote mouth hygiene with the stunt, also helpfully pointed out that over the course of a single kissing “rep” two open mouthed exercisers on average exchange 40,000 parasites, 250 different types of bacteria, along with varying amounts of salt, fat, protein and other organic substances. Thanks alot, Apoteket. Way to kill the romance of Valentine’s Day… 
Kissing Clara: “Oh man, flu or not my only shot at this is to keep my eyes firmly closed. Damn, what’s that dribbling down my chin…”
(Photo: AFP)
