Parachutists break record for most skydives in a day

A champion skydiver has led his team to break a British record held by his father by completing the most jumps from a plane in one day.

Dan Guest and four others completed 60 jumps between 09:00 BST and 18:30 on Wednesday at Skydive Langar, in Nottinghamshire.

The 32-year-old from Bristol said they had to complete each skydive within 11 minutes to be in with a chance to break the record of 50 in a day.

The centre said the previous record was set by Mr Guest's father Andy in 2022 to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

The record-breaking team of five flew in a Cessna 206 aircraft for the attempt and had a supporting crew to help repack their parachutes.

The other new record-holders are James Round, 42, from Milton Keynes, Mikey Lovemore, 44, from Devon, Elise Sharp, 33, and Martin Roberson, 34, both from London.

Mr Guest said he started skydiving at 16 and had become a national champion, representing Great Britain at several world events.

The skydiver said the challenge was a "real mental battle" once they had been jumping for several hours.

"The most I've done before in one day is 17, and that felt like a long day," he said.

"So, I'm really proud of the team to have achieved a new British record and I'm very grateful to the team around us to have made it possible.

"Overall, it's been a really fun day and the best thing is that I've beaten my dad."

Mr Guest said despite a "little bit of family rivalry" his father had been "really supportive, sending messages and cheering us on".

Andy, 66, from Honiton, in Devon, congratulated the team on an "epic day" and said he was pleased to welcome them to the "50 jumps in one day club".

The Skydive Langar team said they had worked extensively with the record-breaking group and provided a dedicated landing area and spare parachutes.

Laura Hampton, from the centre who had organised the attempt, said: "Everything was in place to make the challenge a success.

"The skydivers were fast, the parachute packers were fast, the pilot fast and everything worked seamlessly.

"We have jumps happening here all the time - up to 50,000 every year, but this celebrates it in a different way."

Drop zone manager Josh Carratt added: "We've hosted a wide array of skydiving records over the years, though this is the first time we've had an attempt at the most individual jumps in a day."

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