Rennie nails his big jump - sort of

By Steve Medcroft

On November 3, three hours outside the opal mining town of Cooper Pedy on the road to Oodnadatta, Australia, Nathan Rennie launched a Santa Cruz V-10 off a 12-meter ramp in an attempt to reach the world record bicycle long distance jump of 116 feet. For the attempt, being filmed by a crew for a 30-minute television special ostensibly called the Red Bull Mountain Gap, 2003 downhill World Cup champion Rennie was towed to the ramp by motorcycle at 96 kilometers per hour.

"Nathan just rang from the jump site at 5:45 Australian Eastern Daylight Time with news of his 121 foot record jump," Rennie's father Bruce said in an email on Friday. The jump has been classed as 'unofficial' by the Guinness Book of Records because of (a) crash on landing which has prevented any further attempts at this time."

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According to his father, Rennie "flat landed the front wheel and 'blew up' three quarters of the way down the landing ramp. Nathan separated his shoulder and smashed his prized Troy Lee full face helmet, as well as sustaining cuts and bruising to most of his body."

Rennie is said to be in good spirits despite the crash. "(He) is elated with his effort and feels the setup could be used for much bigger jumps in the future," said his father. "After viewing the raw film footage, Nathan and the Red Bull crew were stoked with the jump, and are looking forward to putting together the half hour package for Red Bull on free to air T.V."