Dubai: Imagine freefalling 60 metres — like jumping off a 19-storey building — 200 times in 24 hours!
Professional fitness coach Colin Phillips aims to do just that on Thursday and Friday to break a Guinness World Record for the Most Bungee Jumps in 24 hours for the Porsche Macan 24-Bungee charity event at the Dubai Autodrome.
The record is currently held by Kevin Scott Huntly in South Africa for bungee jumping 105 times on May 8, 2011.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do — to be included in the record books with all those crazy records and people with inspiring skills doing incredible [stunts],” Phillips, 32, from the UK, told Gulf News.
A professional athlete, Phillips said he started bungee jumping 10 years ago in the UK and has since been hooked.
“Bungee jumping is very, very addictive. The big moment is when you’re about to do that leap of faith. It is scary; if it wasn’t, then it wouldn’t be fun.”
The charity event will be held to raise awareness and funds for Breast Cancer Arabia, an organisation that offers medically produced and backed information to women around the world.
The bungee session will be divided into three parts, around four hours each, to give Phillips’ body time to recover. Phillips needs to do 106 jumps to break the record. He aims to do around 15 jumps per hour.
Gravity Zone, a permanent bungee site in the UAE, which works in partnership with the UK Bungee Club, will operate the event. Extra professional manpower such as crane drivers and a sports therapist from the UK will be flown in on the day to ensure the safety of the jumper and his team.
Phillips said he has been cleared medically to perform the stunt. He is aware he might have sore ankles at the end of the event but he said he is ready for it.
As part of his training, Phillips has been doing 10 to 15 jumps every weekend for the last 12 months.
“The moment of weightlessness and freefall — that gives the highest sensation. When you’re descending at a speed of [160km/h] and you feel your heart jump
to your mouth, that’s the most euphoric part.”
