Highest
jump above water - world record set by Robbie
Maddison
CORINTH CANAL, Greece -- Sports Australian
freestyle motocross star Robbie Maddison, 28,
jumped the 279-foot wide Corinth Canal in Greece, at a height
of more than 300 feet above the water , setting the world record for the Highest
jump above water.
Photo: Robbie Maddison Jumps Over Corinth
Canal In Greece, setting the world record for the Highest
jump above water. Photo Red Bull
(enlarge
photo)
Maddison rode his Honda 500 through a turn-filled
approach past a pool, across a soccer field and past a chicken
coop to a speed of 78 mph on Thursday. He accelerated up a
ramp and flew across the canal and landed safely on a mound
set up on the other side.
Maddison was 311 feet above the canal's
surface at the height of his jump, sponsored by Red Bull.
Maddison said it was difficult enough
getting the approach right despite the constantly changing
surfaces, from grass to concrete to wood to asphalt and then
carpet. He also had to deal with nerves.
"Jumping across the Corinth Canal
has become in my mind a challenge I just could not resist,"
he said. "This jump involved the highest consequences I have
faced so far, so the first obstacle I had to overcome was
my fear. I believe you have to take risks in life to become
wiser, and facing a challenge like this will help get me ready
for the next feat I will face. I am thrilled I managed to
pull it off. As you know, there is only one opportunity to
get it right."
Many motocrossers have wanted to jump across
the Corinth Canal, which was built in 1893. But the Australian
was the first to succeed.
Maddison has become famous for his jumps.
In 2009 he performed a backflip across London's Tower Bridge,
and lept 30m on to a replica Arc de Triomph in Las Vegas.
In 2008, he broke the world motorcycle jumping
record twice in the same night when he leapt 107m during the
Crusty Demons Night of World Records show in Melbourne.
