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Mike Heard, who raised $12,058 for the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation during his epic jump feat off the Auckland Harbour Bridge on October 10-11 last year, was informed earlier this year by Guinness World Records that they could not validate the record because they dispute the fact that each bungy jump was a “completed” jump.
This is despite Mike executing his bungy jumps in exactly the same way, at the same place, doing the same length bungy jump with the same equipment and same AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand crew, as his previous successful record attempts.
The 42-year-old still holds Guinness World Records for the most bungy jumps in one hour (80 jumps in 2011) and initially set records of the most jumps in 24 hours (103 in 2008 and 430 in 2017) – all at the AJHBNZ site on Auckland Harbour Bridge.
His story is captured in a short 26-minute documentary called Bring It Home, released online on Thursday, October 17, by AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand. The film details Mike’s build up to the event, and throughout the 24 hours where he set out to smash the current world record of 765 jumps in 24 hours, obtained by Frenchman François-Marie Dibon, at Highland Bungy in Scotland in 2022.
The end of the film shows Mike talking to François-Marie, graciously informing him that the Frenchman still holds the world record.
François-Marie replies: “Although 941 for me is the number, I’m quite surprised of the verdict. It’s a bit shocking, I’m very sorry that it was not approved because records are meant to be broken… I think it doesn’t change anything [that] you have accomplished.
“I think your country can be proud of what you have done. For me, the record is back to New Zealand, because 941 is the number.
“Whatever Guinness World Record says, congratulations for getting the record of 941 leaps.”
Click here to view the documentary Bring It Home, filmed and edited by AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand crew member and content creator Sam Mills. Bring It Home is her first short film.
*Inside Tourism has edited this release for brevity.
