RAIN FOILS ATTEMPT TO REWRITE BASE JUMP RECORD

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 Wednesday 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 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 city, 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 East Malaysia state of 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 Wednesday 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.
-- BERNAMA