Robbie Maddison Backflips London's Tower Bridge
Backflip Over London’s Tower Bridge
(Courtesy Red Bull Photo Files – Michael Regan)
Breaking records and pushing the limits of reality is what Robbie Maddison does. No man has accomplished what he has on a motorcycle and the exciting thing is he’s only getting started.
As he prepared for his breakthrough jump on and subsequent leap off the Arc de Triumphe in Las Vegas, he was asked the question everyone wanted to know.
“Are you crazy?”
To which the Australian freestyle motocross competitor simply replied, “Yeah…. I am!”
(Courtesy Red Bull Photo Files – Dean Mouhtaropoulos)
In an effort to apparently prove his insanity, Maddison added to his list of extraordinary accomplishments in the early morning hours of July 13 by successfully backflipping across London’s iconic Tower Bridge on the eve of his 28th birthday.
Since 2007, “Maddo” has become notorious for his death-defying and physics-challenging feats. On New Years Eve in ’07, he set a Guinness World Record with the longest recorded motorcycle jump in history at 322 feet, 7 inches. Exactly one year later, he accomplished what is arguably the most mind-boggling stunt ever conceived with the aforementioned jump of the Arc, setting yet another record by stepping-up 96 feet.
(Courtesy Red Bull Photo Files – Michael Regan)
Monday’s jump in London was kept tightly under wraps by Red Bull, who has been the primary supporter of all Maddo’s feats. It was the first jump outside of the U.S. for Maddison, made extra special by having the opportunity to perform the feat on the world-famous landmark. He took everyone by surprise with a 2:55 a.m. launch across the drawbridge, using the north and south ends as a “natural” ramp. A 40-mph run up to the bridge gave him the momentum to clear the gap that sits nearly 100 feet above the legendary Thames River.
“Since the jumps in Las Vegas I’ve been set on doing something special here in London so the Red Bull team and I have been secretly scoping out Tower Bridge for months,” explained Maddison. “We had a matter of minutes on the bridge and had to time everything to the second, there were so many factors to get right, but we pulled it off.
People say I’m crazy, but I just want to push the boundaries of my sport and my body to the limit and I love taking on these huge challenges. It was an incredible feeling to fly between the two towers and over the Thames.”
(Courtesy Red Bull Photo Files – Jorg Mitter)
There is no telling what kind of stunt could be formulating within the head of Robbie Maddison at this point, but you can expect it to be bigger and better than anything he’s ever done before. And don’t be surprised if you see Maddo flying through the air this coming December 31st to ring in 2010 the way he’s done the past two years.
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