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Tuesday 5 July, 2022
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Vol 16 No 26
Skydiving stars smash record Bacchus Marsh woman Nicole Kearns was one of 19 women to break a skydiving record. Photo - Kristan Fischer By Lachlan Ellis A team of 19 skydivers from across the nation, including one from Moorabool, have broken the Australian record for most women skydiving in star formation. The previous record sat at 16 women. Nicole Kearns from Bacchus Marsh was one of the 19 women who took part, breaking the record after 10 attempts at Skydive Ramblers in Toogoolawah, Queensland. Ms Kearns was also part of the team that set the previous record in 2021, and said it was exciting being part of a recordbreaking team once again. “It took us all years to get our skills up to the level where we could even attempt it. But as for the record event itself, we did some warm-up jumps on the Friday, then we started attempting the record on the Saturday morning. We had five attempts on the Saturday and five on the Sunday, we
broke the record at the tenth attempt,” Ms Kearns told the Moorabool News. “That was one of the most amazing moments in my life…it’s what I’ve wanted and worked towards, but it was a difficult thing to achieve. We all had to do our job to achieve it, it was a whole team effort. So actually completing it was unreal, we were ecstatic.” Over nearly two decades, Ms Kearns has completed over one thousand dives, which all began when friends gave her a skydiving voucher. “I’ve been skydiving for 19 years. I must’ve mentioned that I’d always wanted to do it, and a group of my friends got me a voucher on my birthday to do my first jump…so that’s how it all started. In that time I’ve done about 1100 dives,” she said. “You get a lot of pleasure from skydiving, but what drives me even more, especially long-term, is that it’s a way to push and challenge yourself, and improve yourself both
mentally and physically.” As for what’s next, Ms Kearns says there’s another possible record attempt on the horizon – an even more challenging one than the star formation. “I always like to have other goals in sight like most skydivers…the main organiser of this event, Kristina Hicks, is hoping to plan a women’s sequential formation record in 2023. That’s where we’ll make multiple formations on the one jump instead of just one formation.” Ms Hicks said the successful record attempt was “such a special moment” for everyone involved. “Participants travelled from all over Australia for this record attempt, something that hasn’t been possible for quite some time due to all the COVID border restrictions and shutdowns. It was great to be able to reunite with amazing women from around the country and work together to achieve something great,” she said.
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