Sheffield hops to world record
Anyone who grew up in the 1970s can’t fail to have fond memories of space hoppers. Every kid on the street had one, it seemed, and the hopper’s legacy continues to this day. Especially in Sheffield last Sunday, 25 July 2010, when the city swapped steel for rubber as it broke the Guinness world record for the most people hopping simultaneously for one minute (yes, there is already a record for this).
Mexico City previously held the title for the biggest space-hopper bounce, and Sheffield smashed it, in the name of charity. The Bounce for Sheffield campaign raised funds for various cancer charities, including Yorkshire Cancer Research, by getting 809 people to gather at Don Valley Bowl stadium on 25 July and bounce in unison.
TopThingsToDo.co.uk cheers on Sheffield…
So we at TopThingsToDo.co.uk decided to create our own space hopper challenge with everyone in the office invited to see who could bounce the highest. After taking a while to — very noisily — inflate the luminous orange ball, we discovered that the hopper is much smaller than we remembered. Or perhaps we’d simply grown?
The meagre size of the hopper didn’t put off our contestants and seven brave souls stepped forward to have their bounces recorded (see gallery, right). A few fell off, or bounced backwards into the wall, narrowly avoiding the furniture. But others such as Sadie looked like a natural — perhaps she had been secretly practicing? Even our MD Lisa, who had just stepped off a plane from Mexico, managed a very good attempt. But it was Vishal who was proudly crowned the winner, receiving the prize of… his very own space hopper. “Thanks. I’ve always wanted one of these,” he said. “I never had one when I was growing up.” You see, the legacy lives on…
The official results were:
Contestant Height bounced:
Vishal 49cm
Sadie 45cm
Lisa 41cm
Ross 40cm
James 20cm
Stephen 12cm
Mat 10cm
We also made a donation to Yorkshire Cancer Research to help them raise funds – if you’d like to contribute too, see the Yorkshire Cancer Research website. “Thank you for your kind donation of £70.00. I hope you had lots of fun!” said Nikki Brady, events fundraiser, Yorkshire Cancer Research.
Check out the video here:
