Monday, November 03, 2008

Man on (a) high

In Adelaide yesterday, circus performer Roy Maloy took 11 tries to do what others would consider to be either the stuff of dreams - or nightmares - when he walked 5 steps on 17-metre stilts. Yes ... that was 17 metres - or 57 feet - making them higher than a four-storey building. His previous successful attempt was on 5m stilts. He will have to wait to see if this attempt secures him a world record but remains fairly grounded and down to earth in terms of his achievement - today's The Daily Telegraph reports Mr Maloy as saying: "I was more convinced that I was going to die than at any other point in my life, so I'm really thrilled." Over on the ABC site, they report Maloy was assisted in the death-defying record attempt by the city's fire brigade: "As we were up there, I was holding on to two guys and I turned to one of them and said, 'You know that you are all that's separating me from life and death right now', and he said, 'Look I don't need that pressure'."
I haven't yet been able to find a photo but am hoping footage of the feat will pop up on YouTube sometime soon. In the interim, YouTube does have Roy's video diary of preparations for the record attempt and only by watching that did I truly appreciate the heights this man had reached!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Roy Maloy is a legend! I seen him at a show in Coona, and he had every person at our show watchin him do his stuff. Look at www.roymaloy.com

Anonymous said...

An all round great guy!! Seen the show twice! Kids love it, OLDIES LOVE IT - great stuff!!