“Why would you jump out of a perfectly good plane?”
This is the comment that often accompanies any suggestion of skydiving and while it was a view shared by Graeme Windsor, from his first jump he was hooked.
Yarralumla local Windsor’s love for skydiving started when he moved to Papua New Guinea for work in the late 1960s and he has since jumped over 7,000 times, been inducted into the International Skydiving Hall of Fame, and last October celebrated 50 years in the sport.
While many people see sky diving as a one-off activity, there are plenty of divisions in competitive skydiving such as canopy formation, artistic and accuracy.
Earlier this year, Windsor competed at the 2019 Australian and New Zealand National Skydiving Championships held in Moruya, NSW. Windsor competed in Classic Accuracy, placing second with a final score of 0.37, 0.04 shy of first place.
One of the oldest competitors at the championships, Windsor said he doesn’t know when he will call time on the sport: “I reckon you jump until you can’t.”
However, he said he has plans going forward to 2020. He was eligible to represent Australia at the World Cup in Argentina (19-25 May), while also hopes to be selected for the World Championships in Russia next year.
At a glance
Come and try lacrosse
Canberra Lacrosse Club will hold their annual come and try day on Sunday 19 May 1.30-3pm at ANU Willows Oval.
Learn the basics of throwing, catching, scooping and shooting and take part in drills and mini games. All welcome and no experience is necessary.
Tackling for a cure
Players from the Eastlake Football Club are tackling for purpose this year, with their new initiative ‘Tackling for a Cure’ raising money towards finding a cure for cancer.
Senior Eastlake Demons players are after support from local businesses and organisations to ‘sponsor’ the amount of tackles throughout the season. Each tackle the senior club makes will mean a monetary donation to the University of Canberra’s Melanie Swan Memorial Translational Centre with the aim to raise $10,000.
Anyone interested in getting involved can contact Pete McGrath on 0419 202 223 or Eastlake Football Club football operations manager Jeff Roberts on 0423 877 742.
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