A Frenchman is seeking to set a new world record for the most bungee jumps in a 24-hour period.
François-Marie Dibon, 44, has travelled to Scotland for his attempt to break the record, which is currently held by Mike Heard, who completed 430 bungee jumps in a day at Auckland Harbour Bridge in May 2017. Dibon is expected to make the last of the jumps on Wednesday morning.
Dibon, who was raised in Paris and works as an actuary in Sweden, is making his attempt at Garry Bridge, near the village of Killiecrankie in Perthshire, and will be assisted by the Highland Fling Bungee team.
On his decision to make the attempt in Scotland, Dibon said he loved the country and that the “French love the Scottish people”.
“I discovered this amazing spot in Pitlochry and an amazing team more than five years ago, and I just felt, wow, this is so fun and so cool, you know, bungee jumping, I could do that all day. Well then, I thought, let’s put that statement to the test.”
“I’m working with a great team, a good spot and amazing scenery with the Killiecrankie woods, with the mountains around and the River Gary below.”
Dibon said he used to be afraid of heights and previously struggled to dive into a swimming pool, but that bungee jumping has become “a good cure”, adding: “You have nothing to fear, because you’re attached to a bungee cord.
“I’m not nervous at all because we have been preparing a lot. I have an amazing team around me. I’m very cool and very glad and enjoying the present moment.”
Dibon said he would start the record attempt with one jump and then “see how it goes afterwards”.
“So I don’t have any objective. We will see how it goes,” he said.
The Highland Fling Bungee team said they have made technical adjustments to their winched retrieval system to accommodate his world record attempt.
Laurie Thomas, the operations manager, said: “When François first jumped with us, he fell in love with the place. It is great to be part of this, with him, and the team will have this on their CVs forever. Hopefully, we are celebrating success.”