Hizam Shah Sahibudeen attempted to enter Malaysia Book of Records
November 02,2009
Hizam Shah Sahibudeen joined 24 professional base jumpers attempting to enter Malaysia Book of Records. Here is the news from Sinchew.com
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 (Bernama) — Heavy rain foiled an attempt by a group of multinational enthusiasts to rewrite the world record for endurance BASE jumping in 24 hours at the 421-metre high Menara KL (KL Tower) here.
The group, comprising jumpers from Canada, China, Denmark, Holland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Singapore, and Turkey, managed 543 jumps, 33 short of the world record of 576 as per the Guinness Book of World Records.
“If not for the unfavourable weather, I believe the jumpers could have rewritten the world record,” said Briton Alastair McCartney, who achieved the most number of 32 jumps. The feat calls for 24 people to jump every hour for 24 hours.
The group began the jumps from an open deck, 388 metres above ground level, at 9.12am yesterday but heavy rain prevented them from continuing for three and a half hours in the afternoon.
“Despite the lack of proper rest, they showed high determination to catch up with the lost hours and jumps but they failed just short,” said Menara Kuala Lumpur chief executive officer Datuk Zulkifli Mohamad.
But they will try again next year, promised McCartney.
Zulkifli also disclosed plans to stage a BASE jumping event at the 451.9-metre high Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest pair of buildings in the world, next year subject to talks with the latter. Menara KL is the fifth tallest free-standing tower in the world.
BASE is an acronym which stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antennas, spans (bridges) and earth (cliffs).
In SIBU, Malaysian BASE Association president Capt Aziz Ahmad said BASE jumpers might have another venue to strut their stuff in the 27-storey Wisma Sanyan building, which is Sarawak’s tallest building at 126 metres high.
“We can do the 24-hour jumps which we usually do from the KL tower here as well. Of course, we need to iron out the vital technical necessities like having adequate lighting before we can do so,” he told reporters.
Aziz had participated in the KL Tower 24-hour jump yesterday where he did about 30 jumps. He was also the technical director.
He said Wisma Sanyan also offered the biggest open landing area in the country with over 13 hectares of grounds of the Sibu Town Square which he said was another plus factor.
Aziz will be the technical director for the Sibu BASE Jump from 8am to 5pm on Oct 31, weather permitting.
Sixteen jumpers are scheduled to take part, among them five Malaysians including Capt Wallen Alexander Gagak, a Sarawakian, three Australians, two Americans and one jumper each from France, Russia, New Zealand and Singapore.
Aziz said he was glad that BASE jumping legend Cary Cunningham, 38, of Australia, whom he described as the best in the world, would also be coming.
Meanwhile, the Resident of Sibu Division, Sim Kok Kee, presented sponsored T-shirts to the jumpers as part of the Visit Sibu Year 2009 programme, and said he hoped that the event could be held annually.