ptflyer:
Think you confusing Simon OH's trip with another attempt. A know that a crew much earlier did try it that way around, but like you correctly state - it falls outside the regs set by the FAI. Simons trip ticked all the boxes, his highest lattitude being N65.34 at Kulusuk, Greenland.
Simons record stands at 17d, 14h, 2m
The FAI also subcategorize the attempt into different weight categories, Rons and Simons Eastbound trips are in Cat C, the Grand is in Cat E. So officially they are different records.
The Grand website states their trip is an attempt to break Rons time of 17d, 6h which was westbound. So I have to admit i'm a little confused as I understood the records are considered separate between westbound and eastbound? But regardless, they are doing a very impressive job with a difficult task. Good on them!