by Gary Cunningham
at Menara Kuala Lumpur

The year end party started for Gary at midnight on 30th December 2005 with CEO of Menara Kuala Lumpur, Datuk Zulkifli Mohamad giving the countdown for the first jump of the 24 hour record attempt. Assembled on the roof was a large crowd of media and Gary's support team to see him off for the start of the record.

Jumping continued throughout the night with Gary averaging almost 10 jumps an hour.

A team of six Australian packers worked very hard throughout the night to keep up the supply of packed rigs.

By 6am Gary had broken the existing record of 57 jumps, jumping at a blistering pace.
By daylight both Gary and his Australian packers were exhausted and it was time for a 1 hour break.
Gary had breakfast and a shower and then resumed jumping with a fresh team of Malaysian packers.

Jumping continued throughout the day.
Gary took a short break for lunch and another short break in the afternoon waiting for a storm to pass.

By 6pm Gary reached his goal of 120 jumps before it started raining again.
The rain continued for a few hours so Gary and his team of packers were able to have a rest before an exciting finish to the year.
The rain eventually stopped and Gary was able to start jumping again around 9:30pm.

Approaching midnight a crowd gathered on the open deck of KL Tower to watch the final few jumps of the record, the fireworks and to celebrate the New Year.

Gary made 132 jumps and it was now time the do the final jump of the record and have an exciting start to the New Year. A 10 way was planned with Gary and his parachute packers, who were also BASE jumpers, all launching off at once.

The atmosphere was electric as the crowd counted down to midnight and the start of the 2006 New Year. One second before midnight all 10 jumpers launched off the tower to celebrate the New Year in free fall along with a spectacular fireworks display to mark the occasion.

In free fall and under canopy the visuals were amazing.
On the way down the jumpers watched the surrounding fire works exploding in the sky all over the city.

2006 had arrived and Gary had completed his world record with 133 jumps.
What a fantastic way to finish one year and start another.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Gary Cunningham and his team of packers gathered on the roof one last time for a photo session and media interviews before continuing their 2006 New Year celebrations.

Gary's record was not a solo effort. It took a huge team of people to make the record happen. Most importantly were the team of packers who not only worked very hard packing parachutes throughout the record but also provided invaluable moral support and motivation. Some of Australia's most experienced base jumpers were flown to Kuala Lumpur to pack Gary's parachutes. Also included in the team of Packers were Malaysian BASE jumpers and military parachute packers.

Packers:

Chris Coppard - Australia
Pete Fielding - Australia
Greg Wilcock - Australia
Mark Dunbar - Australia
Steve Anderton - Australia
Simon Plum - Australia
Stephan Mueller - USA / Germany
Nik Fahmi - Malaysia
Shamsudin Amin - Malaysia
Shamsul Amin - Malaysia
Harun - Malaysia
Jimie - Malaysia
Yahaya - Malaysia

Thanks to:

Menara Kuala Lumpur Datuk Zulkifli Mohamad - Menara KL CEO
Aziz Ahmad - Event Technical Coordinator
Zainol Abdullah - Exit Point Coordinator / Jump logger
Rizlan - Video Camera Operator
All the Menara KL support staff for their help and support.

Gary's sponsor:

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