Extreme sports hero killed

A well known paraglider who had been taking part in acrobatics exhibitions in an El Hierro paragliding festival was killed last month after plunging sideways to the ground.


Stefan Oberlander, known to his friends as Obi, died while being transferred to a Tenerife hospital as a result of multiple injuries sustained in the fall 24 hours earlier over the spectacular Valle del Golfo.



Obi, 33, was part of the six man Ozone team, a group of professional athletes who specialize in aviation and freefall stunts for public audiences. The team also includes Spain’s Feliz Rodríguez, current world champion of para acrobatics, and four Americans. The six had participated together for five years at events around the world with a perfect safety record.



Ironically, the festival was over and the team was set to move on to Tenerife to take place in the Los Realejos Flypa event. Obi decided, however, to go for one last flight over the valley before leaving because the weather was so perfect for flying. It was a fatal decision.



Stefan Oberlander, who had represented his country on numerous occasions, was a man dedicated to sport, but not just any sport. They had to be extreme. He was the first person to successfully base jump on a bike – in other words, ride a mountain bike over the edge of a 3,000 foot high cliff, parachute down, land on the bike and ride off again without putting a foot down.

Waynesboro gets Xtreme

Event celebrates outdoor sports
By David Royer/staff
droyer@newsleader.com

WAYNESBORO — Joshua Phillips was a little leery stepping into a shaky kayak with his father on the lazy green water of the South River on Saturday.

A few minutes later, the bright-eyed second-grader climbed up the riverbank, smiling and ready to do it again.

"It's a boys' day out," Joshua said. "My mom's at work, and I just wanted to spend some time with my dad."

Joshua was one of more than 2,000 extreme sports fans and outdoor enthusiasts expected to visit Ridgeview Park for Xtremefest '07, a sun-loving sports celebration that has gained traction since the Waynesboro Parks and Recreation Department organized the first event last year.

While people piled into canoes and kayaks from Blue Ridge Mountain Sports and Rockfish Gap Outfitters on the river, five bicycle daredevils with the Keith King BMX Stunt Show soared above spectators with no-hands vertical ramp stunts. Awestruck children formed a line for autographs from their gravity-defying heroes.

The BMX stunts were a favorite activity for 8-year-old Cheyenne Wood. She didn't try any bike tricks herself, but she did almost make it to the top of a 25-foot vertical rock-climbing wall.
"I just wanted to give it a try," Cheyenne said.

Waynesboro's location on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains creates the perfect setting for outdoor activities, and Xtremefest is the perfect fit for the city's extreme-sports crowd, said Dwayne Jones, superintendent of parks and horticulture in Waynesboro.

"It's just perfect," Jones said. "All of these activities, you can do within 10 minutes of Waynesboro."

Fight Night Delivers A Knockout

SPRINGDALE -- Extreme Fight Night was an extreme success, said organizers of last weekend's event in All-Star Sports Arena.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, the event was a 10," Extreme Fight Night promoter Brandon Wilson said.Extreme Fighting, similar to that shown on Spike TV, combines boxing with martial arts.

It is wildly popular in the U.S. and its television rating are soaring past those of conventional sports like the NBA and NHL.

"The event was a great success, and we are already planning more fight nights for the future," All-Star Sports Arena's Will Holt said.

The night was kicked off by a performance from Fallen, which served as a warm-up for the main events.

The event was the first of its kind in Northwest Arkansas, but won't be the last. On June 23, All-Star Sports Arena will host a professional kickboxing event where a championship title belt will be on the line.

Locals Compete In Labuan Kayak Challenge

By Rosli Abidin Yahya

Bandar Seri Begawan - Twelve national team kayakers left for Labuan yesterday morning to compete in the "Labuan-Brunei International Extreme Kayak Challenge" and "Labuan Round Island Kayak Challenge".

They include seasoned kayakers Ariffin Hj Zainal, Hassan Hj Zainal, Awg Mahmud and Saini Hj Hamid of Brunei National KayakAssociation who have won honours in past challenges.

The canoeists said they are confident of winning honours again this year. Last year, Brunei kayakers Were second and third in the "Labuan-Brunei International Extreme Kayak Challenge" race.

"We hope to emulate the feat by winning the race too this year," said Ariffin before his departure by boat to Labuan.

The kayakers will first compete in the two-day LabuanBrunei International Extreme Kayak Challenge from tomorrow, Friday.

The race is organised by Labuan Corporation and Brunei Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and co-organised by Labuan Backpacker's Association, Labuan Canoe Association and Brunei National Kayak Association.

The kayakers will start their race at Labuan International Sea Sports Complex (LISSC) tomorrow at 7 am.

The slowest kayaker is expected to arrive at Serasa by about 3 pin on Friday, after a gruelling maximum eight hours battling the challenging seas at Brunei Bay. On reaching the Serasa Water Sports Complex in Brunei Darussalam, they will rest for the day before continuing their race on Saturday, from Serasa back to LISSC to end their race.

Designed for the highly skilled kayaker, the race will be in a double format covering a distance of 92 km.

Participants will be provided with special-ocean going kayaks by the organisers. Kayakers finishing first to tenth will win a total of RM32,000 in cash prizes, medals, certificates and trophies.

The local kayakers will also take part in the Round Island Kayak Challenge on May 6, considered as one of the longest and toughest in Malaysia, with individuals and double categories.

The course is 50km long and runs along the perimeter shoreline of Labuan Island. Organised by Labuan Corporation and Labuan TourismAction Council, the race is a real test of skills and stamina of local participants including those from BIMP-EAGA region. Last year, canoeists from Brunei, Ariffin Hj Zainal and Hassan Hj Zainal, won the double event.

Kayakers who finish first to tenth will walk home with RM11, 400 in cash prizes, medals and certificates.-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

The Daredevils get close to Jesus

Two wing-suit pilots have taken the term "getting closer to God" to an extreme new level.

After leaping out of a hovering helicopter, extreme sports enthusiasts Luigi Cani and Jeb Corliss pulled off an astonishing stunt that might have left onlookers on Rio de Janeiro's towering Christ the Redeemer statue believing they had seen some sort of religious apparition.

Cani and Corliss hurtled at speeds of about 150kmh towards the famous 38-metre high monument.

Footage of their stunt, which was sponsored by a sports beverage company, shows one of the daredevils shooting well in front of the statue before safely deploying his parachute.
Amazingly, the second jumper can be seen flying at break-neck speed beneath the right arm of the statue, missing it by just a few metres.

Cani, a world champion canopy pilot from Brazil, and Corliss, an experienced US BASE-jumper, who is reportedly being sued for attempting to jump from the Empire State Building, eventually landed safely in Rio.

"This was the most exhilarating flight I've ever experienced," Cani said.

"It was almost miraculous ... I truly felt a greater power was watching over me.

"I am hoping that the imagery captured during this flight will convey the sense of freedom, emotion and awareness of everything around you, especially when you only have control over certain elements in life."

Australian BASE-jumper and wing-suit adventurer Dr Glenn Singleman told smh.com.au he was very impressed by the pair's precision flying.

"Holy cow! Whoa! Wow! That's amazing," he exclaimed while watching footage of it today.
Singleman last year recorded the highest BASE-jump in history when he and his wife, Heather Swan, launched themselves in wing suits off a 6604-metre high precipice on Meru Peak in northern India.

He said that, although Cani and Corliss's stunt looked dangerous, the wing suits they were wearing would have allowed them to control their trajectory and speed.

"It seems incredibly dangerous but you have a very good idea of the angle that you are flying and you can see that he kind of pushed it deliberately.

"The suit is high performance enough that they can fly clean over [the statue] without any problems. At any time if there was a problem they could have easily got out of it."

He said the pair would have zoomed past the statue so quickly that onlookers would hardly have had time to realise that humans were flying past.

"Unless [the onlookers] knew what to look for, they just would have heard a sound. [The pair] would have gone past the statue at easily 150kmh ... It's an amazing noise, just like a huge falcon sweeping [down]."

He said he and Swan would love to do the statue jump themselves.

Smoking Not The Only Evil

Most people have the ability to look at things and circumstances in an objective manner. Quite often, one must reach a personal conclusion that is best arrived at by taking a step back and trying to analyze the issue in question as objectively as possible. This is probably especially true of matters related to political and social issues, particularly those that tend to leave people quite emotional and, thus, irrational. The issue of banning smoking is such an emotional topic among those who oppose smoking in public places and those who enjoy their sinful vice. Arguments have been brought forth by either side, and either side has fed the public constructive arguments, but also a lot of nonsense. In Alberta, Canada, the debate about smoking bans is currently hotter than ever, with the provincial government gunning for smokers wherever it can find them. That smoking is unhealthy is beyond debate. But is smoking really the big problem that so many opponents make it out to be?

Smoking kills a lot of people around the world. Cigarette packs sold in Canada come with a statistical chart showing that tens of thousands of people in Canada die from smoking every year. Most smokers would very much like to kick the filthy habit, but only few accomplish it. They know about the health risks, yet their addiction is too strong and each time they try to stop, they soon find themselves lighting up another cigarette again. In a country like Canada, where people’s health-care costs are shouldered by the public system, i.e., the taxpayers, smoking-related health problems do not only affect the smokers themselves but all taxpayers, who end up paying the bills of smokers who require medical treatment for cancer and other conditions. The anti-smoke lobby, therefore, uses this burden on society as one of its main arguments to justify government’s encroachment on people’s personal rights. However, those same people who go after smokers conveniently ignore other, even bigger, costs to taxpayers that result from the actions of others.Canadians, in particular, enjoy sports, especially extreme sports. Year after year, people are injured while snowboarding, playing hockey or engaging in a variety of risky activities. In many, if not most, cases, these injuries are sustained as a result of reckless behaviour, with many people ending up disabled for the rest of their lives. This comes at a hefty price to the publicly funded health-care system and, thus, the taxpayer. While smokers pay more than their share for any future treatment they may require through the stiff tobacco taxes slapped on each pack of cigarettes, people who engage in extreme sports - or sports in general - do not compensate the taxpayer in the same way at all. If the same fiscal model were to be applied to the area of sports, for example, every pair of skis sold would be subject to a high “extreme sports tax”. Every motorbike sold would carry an extra tax liability of, say, 30-50% in order to defray the costs of treatment and therapy for those who injure or cripple themselves as a result of their own foolish and out-of-control behaviour.

Albertans do not only smoke in large numbers, they are also extremely crazy about cars. They will drive even the shortest distance, for example, to take the garbage to their condominium complex’s garbage dumpster that happens to be a few feet from their building. The cost of the pollution from car traffic is another area that costs taxpayers even more than the effects of smoking - both in terms of money and health. Anyone who has ever walked along 4th Avenue in downtown Calgary during rush hour, when cars are bumper-to-bumper, will know that the exhausts from those cars are a lot more harmful than the smoke wafting in his direction from the cigarette of a passer-by. In winter, in particular, the exhaust fumes hang over 4th Avenue so thick that it is almost impossible to see the cars. This all comes at a tremendous cost to people’s health and the environment. Tough measures, such as congestion charges, are required to protect people and the environment. Yet, instead of following the examples set by London and, more recently, New York, the Albertan government has decided to leave drivers and their cars alone and to target smokers by raising tobacco taxes considerably.

Both the government and the anti-smoke lobby seem to have agreed to peg their arguments on the cost factor: Smokers cost society a lot of money, so they need to be stopped. But if that is what they intend to do, they must follow through and apply the same principle to extreme sports, cars and a host of other harmful influences in people’s lives. By attacking smokers with higher taxes, the government hurts the poor and working poor the most, for smoking is a “pastime” most commonly encountered in these two social segments. At the same time, though, the better-off, with their fancy cars and penchant for dangerous and extreme sports, are spared such treatment. The only ones to be singled out as being a burden on the publicly funded health-care system are the smokers.

Arguing in this manner, as the anti-smoke lobby and Alberta’s government have done, runs the risk of undermining the commitment to universal health care in Canada. The underlying principle of Canada’s health-care system is that anyone, whether rich or poor, is covered, no questions asked. It is therefore troubling to see the government and opponents to smoking open that particular Pandora’s box by questioning certain people’s rights to coverage under the public system. A case for their side of the argument could be made if smokers had never paid any tobacco taxes, but the fact is that smokers have paid above and beyond what it costs to treat smoking-related illnesses, while other groups who engage in activities more harmful and detrimental to society have been given a free pass, without anyone questioning their right to public health care.

Cigarettes are a legal product, one that generates a lot of revenue for governments all over the world. If governments were really serious about making people quit, they would have banned cigarettes a long time ago. The fact that they have not indicates that governments take in more money from tobacco taxes than they spend on treating the sick. If the medical costs were ever to exceed tax revenues, governments would very quickly pull the plug on cigarettes and ban them outright - this, at least, would level the playing field. But the current situation is highly discriminatory against one specific group, who are treated as second or even third-class citizens. As a result, this group may eventually be excluded from public health-care services, something that is already happening now, with some doctors refusing to take on patients who smoke. So apart from this being a rights issue, the future of public health care is also at stake. One can only hope that the anti-smoke activists are aware of the consequences of their actions.