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KUCHING, Aug 10 (Bernama) -- Not only has Kuching city been chosen as the host of this year's National Day parade, an extreme sport event, Kuala Lumpur Tower International Jump (KLTIJ) has added a building here, Menara Pelita, in its International Jump Circuit.

The sixth series of the KLTIJ extreme sport event, which is scheduled to kick-off at Kota Kinabalu on Saturday and end its showcase in Kuala Lumpur, would stage the event here on Aug 14-15.

Menara Kuala Lumpur Sdn Bhd Public Relations and Event Manager, Mazlin Abdul Malik said the KLTIJ, traditionally held at Menara Kuala Lumpur and Menara Alor Star, had injected the Merdeka celebration excitement by having the BASE jump in Sabah, Sarawak and Penang.

The KLTIJ's Merdeka Circuit are Menara Tun Mustapha, Kota Kinabalu (Aug 12 and 13); Menara Pelita, Kuching (Aug 14 and 15); Menara Alor Star, Kedah (Aug 17 and 18); Menara Komtar, Penang (Aug 20) and Menara Kuala Lumpur on Aug 25 to 27.

"The inclusion of these states is in line with Menara Kuala Lumpur's 10th anniversary celebration this year and its initiative to promote Visit Malaysia 2007," she told reporters at a press conference on the event here Thursday.

BASE jumping is the sport of using a parachute to jump from fixed objects. "BASE" is an acronym that stands for the four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump.

B stands for Building; A for Antenna (an uninhabited tower such as an aerial mast), S for span (a bridge, arch or dome) and E for Earth (a cliff or other natural formation).

About 80 international and five local jumpers will participate in this year's event. The international jumpers are from the United States of America, Australia, Germany, India, Mexico, Italy, Finland, Russia and Norway.

Mazlin said this year's event themed "Jump for Charity" would incorporate a programme of jumpers visiting charity homes at each state that host the event. The KLITJ in Kuching, which is supported by Sarawak Tourism Board (STB), would hand over an amount of donation to the Sarawak Children Cancer Society.

Jumpers find building quite a challenge
13 August, 2006
Kota Kinabalu: Bad weather did not deter 14 international Base jumpers from doing their thing at the Menara Tun Mustapha, here, Saturday.

However, the 100-metre-plus tower did pose quite a challenge to the jumpers considering the "obstacles" around it.

Menara Tun Mustapha was the first of five towers in Malaysia for the Jump for Charity: Kuala Lumpur Tower International Jump 2006, in conjunction with the country's 49th Independence anniversary, KL Tower's 10th anniversary and Menara Tun Mustapha's 40th anniversary.

According to the jump's technical director, Gary Cunningham, the weather was good enough although there were occasional strong winds, during which, the jumps were stopped for a while.

The 34-year-old Australian said his team of jumpers did a rehearsal the previous day to prepare for the jumps.

Cunningham, an electronics engineer, said the Menara Tun Mustapha was quite a challenge.

"The least tall 'object" I jumped off was a 50m bridge, but it was relatively easy as there were no obstacles such as buildings, structures, flag poles, etc, and the landing area was quite flat. The less tall the object, the faster you need to deploy the chute.

"The Menara Tun Mustapha however has some lower buildings on two sides and flag poles on one side. Although it is 100m tall, it is quite an awesome object to jump off from," he said.

Cunningham created a world record by doing 133 jumps within 24 hours at the KL Tower during the same event last year.

Asked if Malaysia has good jumpers or skydivers, he said it does and that the sport can be developed further in the country by having more skydiving schools.

"The only expensive thing is the gear (parachute). Apart from that, there are only travelling expenses you need to cover," said Cunningham, who has been skydiving and BASE jumping since 16.

The BASE jumpers, including two women, were from Australia, Norway, Germany, USA, England, New Zealand, Switzerland, Singapore and Finland.

There were also local jumpers, including experienced jumper, Capt (R) A.Aziz Ahmad, who was also the event co-ordinator.

The event was launched by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Yahya Hussin on behalf of the Chief Minister. Later, KL Tower CEO Dato' Zulkifli Mohamad presented a cheque for RM2,000 to Bukit Harapan, a home for challenged children in Likas.