64 year old skydiver part of new world record | GALLERY
A group of women over 40 - including one aged 64 - broke a world record when they performed two difficult formations during a rural Queensland jump. Watch the footage.
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More than a dozen women aged over 40 are proving age is no barrier after breaking a world record when they jumped from a plane together for a group skydive at Toogoolawah.
The technical jump involved 14 women from Parachutists Over Phorty Society joining in freefall, breaking grips and then rejoining for a second formation.
Female skydiving group Skysisters’ Susie McLachlan organised the event at Skydive Ramblers Toogoolawah on Thursday, November 23.
Almost 100 women from around Australia and New Zealand gathered for the special occasion where it took three attempts before they successfully broke the Australian and world record.
Ms McLachlan said on the first attempt one of the girls fell off the plane without the others realising.
“It was like, where’s Marcy?” she said, laughing.
They almost achieved it on the second attempt but fell short.
Because of bad weather they only had one more chance at the record.
“I think everybody knew we were going to get it,” Ms McLachlan said.
“On that third jump we got it quite quickly.”
Ms McLachlan said she hoped to set a new Australian record with 14 members of POPS attending the event, but they learned afterwards that they had also set a new world record.
Ms McLachlan hoped events from Skysisters could address the underrepresentation of women in the sport.
“We’ve only got 15 per cent of our Australian Parachute Federation membership being female,” she said.
Two of the women were in their 60s, the oldest, Janine Hayes, 64, has been jumping for 47 years.
“It was really special,” Ms McLachlan said.
She said one of the reasons she wanted to attempt the record was to recognise the older women in the sport.
“You don’t have to give it all up just because you have a career and a family,” she said.
Because of the success of the event and the “overwhelming” positive feedback, Ms McLachlan plans to run the event every two years and hopes to bring more women from around Australia and the world.
She also wants to help set up a club for Skysisters that could receive grants to help foster and sponsor female skydiving athletes.
The record was certified on Sunday, 26 November, 2024.
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Originally published as 64 year old skydiver part of new world record | GALLERY
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