Group who jump from bridges in Watlington share that the extreme sport is safe
A group of bridge jumpers in West Norfolk say they’re in safe hands when practising the extreme sport.
The group practise jumping off bridges locally around Magdalen and Watlington but take trips further afield to rehearse jumping off higher cliffs.
Regular bridge and cliff jumper Ross Williams encourages people to join the group: “We meet up quite regularly in Norfolk for a bit of bridge jumping but when we are not in Norfolk we’re travelling around the UK finding spots with the UK Cliffjumping group on Facebook.
“I’ve jumped off Magdalen bridge for around 7 years now and really struggled to find like minded people that share the same interests as me.”
A lifeguard and first aiders are at every jumping event for health and safety reasons. Ross wants to break the stigma that bridge jumping is unsafe.
He said: “We have a bridge we regularly practice on and it’s very fun when you carry out safety checks.
“Everything is done in a safe professional way so it minimises the risk of injury or death.
“These trips are special to everyone that goes on them. We are like a big travelling family that all share the same passion.
“We don’t have anything high to jump in Norfolk or close to us but at least we have a fun little bridge where we can practise and have fun.”
The national group has around 2,900 members via their Facebook page and Ross encourages people to come and give it a go.
“Norfolk is home to some of the best cliff jumpers in the UK and it always goes unrecognised,” they added.
Despite some negative comments on social media, Ross wants to break the negative stigma of the extreme sport after first taking it seriously back in 2019.
“Since 2019 I have taken it into a more serious hobby and have progressed a lot since then and also met and influenced a lot of people to come and join us,” he added.
“We now have a good amount of people to jump with and it is a fast growing scene grabbing the attention of people from all walks of life with extreme sports background.”
The self-claimed adventurer has shared footage on social media to encourage others to join in. To find out more, go to www.ukcliffjumping.com or join the Facebook group: @UKCliffJumping
