WASHINGTON -- About 10,500 shoes were laid heel-to-toe in the National Geographic Society's courtyard Wednesday to form the world's longest chain of shoes.

Assembled by National Geographic Kids magazine, the chain stretched 8,700 feet or about 1.65 miles. Guinness World Records confirmed that it's the longest chain of its kind.

The shoes will be shipped to Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe program and recycled into basketball courts and other play surfaces.

Peter Wajda, 8, a third-grader from Mount Laurel, N.J., contributed more than 200 pairs of shoes in a shoe drive he organized at his school, organizers said. He was honored at the event.