It's 90 seconds of terror for $30
HURTLING into the sky in a steel capsule, brothers Jeffrey and
Javin Lim got their first taste of reverse bungee jumping last
night in the company of MTV host Denise Keller at Clarke
Quay.
'I screamed all the way,' said Jeffrey, 24, a recent polytechnic
graduate. 'My heart was pounding. The feeling is great, but it's
also scary,' he said of the ride.
Javin, 22, a national serviceman, confessed: 'My heart was beating
so fast it felt like it was going to come out of my mouth. The
scariest part was when it was coming down.'
The brothers had won an MTV online contest for the chance to take
the first ride. They took it, watched by more than 300 guests at
the launch hosted by MTV Asia. They plan to come back and get their
friends to try it.
Ms Keller, 21, said she was most scared just before she got on, and
just as the capsule flipped over at the top.
'It was easier the second time around,' she said.
Clarke Quay centre manager Natalie Prince, 30, said the ride, her
first, was simply exhilarating.
'I forgot about everything. The take-off felt like it went on
forever. The view from the top is spectacular. You feel as if you
are on top of the world.'
That is, if you can stop screaming as you bounce up and down seven
times between the two 35m-tall towers, as high as 60m, and at a
speed of 200kmh.
DAREDEVIL RIDE: Strapped in a capsule, riders scream, shut their
eyes and get tossed upside down. -- LAU FOOK KONG
Samantha Chen, 18, a student passing by, said she would like to
try, but at $30, the price for a ride was 'too much'. It lasts up
to seven minutes, and one is airborne for about 90 seconds.
In the 1990s, the authorities rejected a bid to offer bungee
jumping here, but in July, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said it
would be welcome, and might encourage more risk taking.
Risk taking? Frontier Sports said it had handled over a million
jumps with a '100-per-cent safety record'.
But riders must have no medical problems and be at least 1.1 m
tall.
Guest-of-honour Chan Soo Sen, Minister of State (Education,
Community Development & Sports) qualified. But he
declined.
He said: 'I wouldn't try it in front of the media and so many
people. I will try it one day. But not now
