Girl Takes GCSE in Indoor Skydiving!
15 year old Sian Spence is still coming down to earth having flown through her GCSE exam in Indoor Skydiving last week…
As part of her PE GCSE, Sian needed special permission from her teachers and the Welsh examination board – WJE, to be able to take the landmark flight.
Students are required to take 4 practical parts of their examination, including 1 ‘off site’. With a family as heavily involved in Skydiving as the Spences – it was no surprise that Sian opted for a freefall course when given the opportunity.
Attending Penglais School in Aberystwyth, the keen Skydiver has followed in the footsteps of her father Sandy, who not only met Sian’s mother in the Skydiving industry; he was a UK skydiving gold medallist and coach to the famous Red Devils display team. He proudly beamed: ’she achieved 93%’ !
On top of that, Sian’s 83 year old grandmother celebrated her 80th birthday with a flight at the same wind tunnel!
With a family as fanatical about freefall flight as the Spences, it didn’t take Sian long to get into the sport – first trying indoor skydiving when she was 12. Speaking before her unusual examination, Sian said:
“I immediately loved it, but I hadn’t been for a couple of years because the indoor skydiving centres are too far away,”
The adrenaline inducing sport of Indoor Skydiving is loved up and down the country by anybody from skydive enthusiasts to first time experience tasters, as the 120mph winds and floating around as if you’ve just jumped out of a plane is a feeling that warrants the centre’s nickname: ‘The Smile Factory’. We think it’s great that the school complied and allowed this great addition to the curriculum – in fact, we’re pretty sure they should look at expanding into other great areas of the extreme sports world!
Good luck Sian, what are you going to do for your A levels… an actual Skydive? Synchronised Skydiving… or even a Base Jump?
Source: BBC News
Billy Morgan – Triple Rodeo
British snowboarder Billy Morgan has managed to raise the bar in international snowboarding recently by landing the very first triple backside rodeo on a snowboard! Hailing from Southampton, Billy is an unlikely candidate for gaining such world acclaim for being the first to land a huge new trick and help progress the sport of Snowboarding even further. American riders such as Shaun White have helped make the sport what it is today with the likes of the double McTwist, but Billy has now helped raise the profile of British snow sports and has put us on the map as real competitors at future events with this massive achievement!
The trick itself involves three complete off axis rotations – distinguishing it from a triple back flip, which has been landed many times before and was the crowning jewel in many a riders trick list to throw down at competitions in past seasons. However, this new trick, nicknamed Konichiwa (the Japanese for ‘hello’) by Billy is the new top trump in snowboarding tricks and other riders will no doubt be racing to add it to their trick catalogue.
When asked if he knew it was the first landed attempt, Billy said, “Sort of. Ben and I thought someone might have done one into powder, but then when we looked online we couldn’t find it. Just skiers. It was only after all the websites started claiming it that I was like, “Wow. Am I really the first one to do it?”
Billy admitted that he had previously given it some thought, claiming: “but then I think about a lot of tricks. It was only really that day. Ben [Kilner] was like, ‘I bet you can do a triple’ … so I said to Hamish [McKnight, GB Team coach] ‘Is this realistic?, and he said, ‘Yeah, just go for it. It’s not one of the tricks you can huck and see what happens though, you have to intend to land it first try. So do it.’ – And then… I kinda went and did it.”
The future looks bright for Billy as he has just signed up some big name sponsors to help him practice harder and can only help when it comes to the big competitions and with the Snowboard slopestyle being added as an Olympic event, Billy said “It seems a bit crazy to think that far ahead but yeah. The thing is just to train and compete as much as I can and see what comes of it”.
Whatever happens, we wish Billy the best of luck at future competitions and hope he, along with the rest of the British snowboard team, show the world that even without our own ski resorts we can compete with the rest of the world and show them a thing or two!
Story Source: Whitelines.com
Image Source: ESPN.com
Red Bull “New Year. New Limits.”
Red Bull have become well known for putting on crazy stunts over the past few years with their “New Year. New Limits” events. Previous years have seen multiple jump records being broken, Trophy Trucks being back flipped, Rally cars launching into barges and Motocross riders jumping up onto the the replica of the Arc De Triomphe in Las Vegas!
This year was no exception and to see the new year in with a bang, Red Bull FMX rider Robbie Maddison and Snowcross racer Levi LaVallee tried to break the Motocross and Snowmobile distance jump record simultaneously in San Diego, California! Thousands of hopeful spectators crowded into every available viewing spot in the marina in the hope of catching a glimpse of the action. The gap between the two piers in the San Diego Marina is over 300ft and the speed needed to clear the water and make it to the landing ramp meant both riders had huge run ups and roll in towers! Months of planning, preparation and practice went into making the jump possible – from aerodynamic testing in the wind tunnel to modifications to the bike and sled to make them fast and light enough to cover the massive distance!
29 year old Levi LaVallee soared an incredible 412ft 6 inches on his specially designed snowmobile, touching down on the massive landing ramp smashing the previous record of 361ft and setting a new world record that will surely be hard to beat!
“I just landed an over 400-foot jump. I’m not sure how the sled’s doing, but I’m OK, so it was good. It’s an amazing feeling. You have no idea how pumped I am.” Said LaVallee shortly after the the jump which was planned to happen the previous year, but a serious crash in training resulted in the entire event being cancelled and caused Levi to miss the the Winter X Games!
The event also turned out to be pretty spectacular for Robbie Maddison as he yet again beat his own record jumping an enormous 378ft 9 inches! However, Robbie set a new world record of 391ft during a practice jump the previous day, but wasn’t able to match this distance on the night. Shortly after the jump he said “I was confident we were going to go a long way tonight and we’re going to come back and go even further.” Maddison also said he plans to make some changes to his bike to go even further next time!
With the bar now raised even higher, well, longer, we wonder what could be in store for us next year?
Img source = www.redbull.com
Pulpit Rock: The Highest of Tourist Attractions
Pulpit Rock, Norway, must surely be considered one of the most extreme of tourist attractions on the planet.
The 82ft x 82ft cliff face has a sheer drop of 1,982ft and comes completely untarnished by the Health and Safety brush. Fears of damaging the natural beauty of the stunning cliff has meant no safety barriers have been set up, so tourists can literally stand on the edge, or in most cases; sit with their legs dangling over the side.
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Top 5 Crazy Extreme Sports
Skydiving, Kitesurfing, Mountain Boarding; it’s not for everyone – and for every hang gliding hero out there, there appears to be a volcano surfing veteran. So, this Friday fun piece is to introduce those of you fortunate enough to have thus far avoided Extreme Ironing and the lark.
As it’s Friday and the Christmas spirit is beginning to adorn the air, we thought we’d take a look at the silly, the surreal and the altogether splendid activities classing themselves as Extreme Sports. Well, we wouldn’t be the experts if we didn’t look in every corner, nook and cranny for activities to get the heart racing – even covering the scraps and death-traps such as this fantastic five below:
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Hawaii Introduce Surfing to Schools
Hawaii is set to become the first US state to include surfing as an official competitive sport in the School curriculum. This fantastic new format is set to encourage the best surfers from each school to compete against each other for the inter school title.
World Champion and local resident Carissa Moore (the youngest lady to ever win the Surf World Championships) announced the news next to the iconic statue of Duke Kahanamoku, the much celebrated ‘Father of modern Surfing’. Ms Moore said the sport had taught her life skills such as perseverance, and claimed that news of it becoming an extra-curricular school sport was “awesome”. Ms Moore went on:
“Surfing and riding a wave is so much like life,” she said. “You fall down over and over again, but you keep picking yourself back up until you ride one all the way to the beach.”
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Otis the Skydiving Dog!
Having brought you a couple of the world’s most daring dogs over recent weeks in the shape of Bodhi the Brightonian Skateboarding Dog and Tillman the Snowboarding and Surfing Dog – we’re delighted to this week bring you Otis the Skydiving Pug!
Otis’ proud owner Will Da Silva claims that the fearless pooch has now completed his 64th Tandem Skydive and still loves it as much as the first.
“He’s having a ball – like a dog with his head out of the car window.”
As well as sporting a custom made harness, ten-year-old Otis wears specially designed goggles for his aerial adventures as he free-falls thousands of feet above LA.
Where some have labelled it cruel and unfair on the plucky pug, friend and fellow tandem skydiver ‘SkyDiveRick’ claims that Otis is barking mad for skydiving and has never shown anything but excitement for his sky-walkies.
“This dog simply loves it. LOVES IT. From the moment you pull his specially built harness out, he gets excited in only a way that those who have know him his entire life could understand. Every time has been met with eager anticipation and total cooperation…he has NEVER resisted or shown ANY evidence of dislike for skydiving…in fact the opposite.”
Well this certainly throws a bone in the works as to who is the most extreme dog out there, who do you think is the coolest canine… Bodhi, Tillman or the new challenger from the USA – Otis?
Source: The Sun
Electric Motorbikes – The Future of Racing & Two-Wheeled Travel
Having recently brought you an interview with the owners of World Record Breaking Electric Car ‘Black Currant’ – we’re pleased this week to bring you news of Chip Yates and his fantastic Electric Superbike!
In the same fashion that Black Currant has taken on the petrol engines, Chip Yates and his SWIGZ motorbike team unveiled their latest machine earlier this year; a 241bhp electric powered superbike based around a Suzuki GSX-R750 frame – taking on the petrol engines – and winning!
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Tillman the Surfing & Skateboarding BullDog!
After bringing you Bodhi the Brightonian Skateboarding Dog a few weeks back, we’ve found Tillman the Californian Bulldog who we’re sure would make Bodhi feel ‘hot under the collar’ with his boarding skills…
As you can see for the talented Bulldog, swapping between Skateboarding and Surfing is no problem as he seamlessly moves from wheels to waves to showcase his skills – pretty impressive in our eyes!
With Brighton locals calling for Bodhi to get an ASBO and an £80 fine for showcasing his skills – we feel he is at a slight disadvantage as the Californian residents apparently love seeing Tillman’s tricks on the beach of Oxnard, North Malibu according to owner Ron Davis.
Amazingly, Tillman is now turning his paw to a bit of Snowboarding and can be seen demonstrating his sub-zero skills at the slopes in Wrightwood, California.
“Bulldogs have a low centre of gravity so learning to stand on the boards came very quickly and naturally for him. He’s just as crazy about snowboarding and surfing as skateboarding… he’s nuts about all of them.” Ron Davis, Owner
With a Guinness World Record titling him “The World’s Fastest Skateboarding Dog” we think Bodhi would have his work cut out become top-dog of the extreme-sports world territory… It’s ‘dog-eat-dog’ out there!
Source: The Sun
Tribute to Xavier Murillo – Paragliding Legend Dies
A tribute to Xavier Murillo, the renowned Photographer and world famous Paraglider who was found dead in the Peruvian Andes on Thursday after a week long search.
Xavier Murillo who had more than 25 years experience in his favourite sport of Paragliding went missing on July 1st whilst training for a future competition, where he and fellow Paragliders were hoping to glide from the city of Caraz to the city of Huarez. After separating from his companions, Murillo became un-contactable by cell phone or radio and the worst was feared for the much loved photographer and Paragliding legend.
Expatica.com reported that “Murillo made an initial descent on a new route, but then lost control of his equipment”.
The tragic news was confirmed on Thursday when family, friends and fans were informed that the 55 year old’s body had been found in the Cordillera Blanca of northern Peru. The Paragliding World Cup staff, the French Embassy and a number of local volunteers took part in the search which ended when Murillo’s body was recovered on Huascaran Mountain, on a snow covered moraine at an altitude of 5,500 metres.
We salute a legend of the paragliding world.
Source: Living Peru
Image Source: VincentMounier.com
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