DUBAI // A fitness coach has admitted to feeling “a bit beaten up” after jumping from a crane 151 times.
Colin Phillips, 33, from the UK, set a new world record last night for the most number of bungee jumps within 24 hours.
Mr Phillips began his unusual record attempt from a 100m crane shortly after 7pm on Thursday evening, and by 10.20am on Friday morning he had already completed 106 jumps, beating the previous record of 105 by South African Kevin Huntly.
An adjudicator from Guinness World Records was there for the duration of the 24-hour effort to verify the record.
“I feel a bit beaten up, to be honest,” said Mr Phillips, a crossfit athlete and former professional rugby player.
“Every jump has been different. Sometimes it’s a good one, sometimes it’s not so good.”
Mr Phillips dislocated a finger after getting it caught in a harness during one of the jumps. A sports therapist at the scene simply clicked it back into position and Mr Phillips continued as though very little had happened.
To reduce the impact on his body, the team at the bungee site — Gravity Zone, at Dubai Autodrome — varied the position of the harness. Sometimes it was attached to his ankles, while other times it was around his chest.
“It’s mostly to stop my ankles from being completely ripped to pieces,” he said. “Neither of them are easier, you’re still getting the same force and sustained pressures on the body.”
Although the record was for how many jumps were possible within 24 hours, Mr Phillips jumped for less than 12 hours, split into three four-hour sessions.
The first session was from 7pm until 11pm on Thursday night, picking up again shortly after 6am on Friday morning, until 10.30am.
He rested Friday afternoon until 3pm, when he jumped repeatedly until 7pm.
Mr Phillips did not suffer from migraines or dizziness, as he feared, but he did say he had acute “acid reflux”. He ate only a tuna sandwich on Friday morning and did not eat again until after 7pm.
He said he was tempted to quit but wanted to make the most of the record attempt. “It’s not a matter of quitting now,” he said, at 11am on Friday, after beating the record.
“We’ve got a timeframe, and we’re going to do as much as we can in that timeframe.”
Samer Khallouf, the Guinness adjudicator at the scene, said keeping vigilant throughout the attempt was a challenge.
A little over a month ago, he supervised a 24-hour push-up record attempt in Abu Dhabi.
Guinness established a regional office in Dubai at the beginning of last year, and since then demand has increased, said Mr Khallouf.
“The office was opened here because demand was so high for record-breaking events,” he said. “Even so, demand is increasing because people have better access to us now.”
He said that in his nine months at Guinness, he had seen some odd record attempts, including a nail varnish painting challenge.
Asked at the autodrome which was the strangest, he said: “I’m looking at one of them now.”
mcroucher@thenational.ae
