Guinness World record for New Zealand bungy jumper
19 Aug 2008
A New Zealand adrenaline junkie has bungy jumped his way into the Guinness Book of World Records by leaping off the Auckland Harbour Bridge 103 times in 10 hours.
Auckland radio engineer Mike Heard broke the previous world record held by South African Bill Boshoff who’d performed 101 bungy jumps in 14 hours 23 minutes in 2002.
Head first
Jumping under the control of A J Hackett Bungy, the New Zealand company that pioneered the world famous extreme sport, Heard began his world record attempt at 6.05am on Friday 15 August with a head-first jump that dunked him in the icy waters of Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour.
He soon changed to going in feet-first to avoid getting any wetter than he had to.
"I was going in too deep. It's not nice coming up like a big fish with your sinuses full of salt water," he said.
Celebratory jump
He continued with successive jumps, breaking the world record at 3.59pm with jump number 102. He followed it with a further jump, to celebrate.
After his last jump, Heard said he was looking forward to a nice massage.
"I'm feeling pretty sore but not from anything you'd normally get from bungy, just from hitting the water."
Jumping for charity
Heard's record attempt will be used to raise funds for the Cure Kids medical research charity, and so far he has raised about $NZ5000 with an "ambitious" target of $NZ30,000.
Heard's love of bungy jumping began five years ago and hasn't dimmed.
"Once you get over the fear it's really, really enjoyable - it's quite a free feeling."
NZ home of bungy
Twenty years ago, kiwi entrepreneur and adrenaline junkie, A J Hackett, was inspired to create bungy jumping after learning of a similar traditional practice in Vanuatu where participants jump from wooden structures using vines in place of the modern bungy cord.
New Zealand has since made a name for itself as the home of the bungy, and close to 110,000 overseas visitors take the plunge each year.
A J Hackett Bungy operates in both Auckland and Queenstown and boasts a 100 percent safety record.
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