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Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Taupo base jumper knew sport might claim his life

By Laurilee McMichael
Rotorua Daily Post·
10 Jul, 2012 08:00 PM3 mins to read

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Alan McCandlish, the Taupo base jumper who died after falling from a cliff in Switzerland last weekend, knew his sport might kill him.

The 31-year-old extreme sports enthusiast, who died in a base-jumping accident in the Swiss mountain region of Berner Oberland on Saturday morning told New Zealand Geographic magazine last year that despite the danger, it was only by moving past his fears that he could feel truly free.

"All of my close friends and myself have been witness to a fatality. That's the reality," Mr McCandlish said. "We don't dwell on it or fear it. That sounds like a death wish or something, but for me, it's sort of a wish for life."

He is the second Taupo man to die base jumping in just over a year after former Taupo skydiving instructor Ted Rudd, 35, died in June 2011 after a failed jump off a mountain near his home in Norway.

According to New Zealand Geographic, a British Journal of Sports Medicine study found the overall fatality risk during a single year was 1 in every 60 participating in the sport.

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One of Mr McCandlish's base jumping mates, Jonathan King, who had also worked at Taupo Tandem Skydiving with him, said Mr McCandlish knew he was pushing the limits.

"He was pushing it hard, but it's the same with motorbike racing or a motor car driver, they know the consequences of making a mistake."

Mr King was phoned with the news at 5.30am on Sunday by Mr McCandlish's travelling companion Benjamin MacPherson and said although he was devastated at losing another friend as he was also close friends with Mr Rudd, base jumping was extremely dangerous.

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"You just get used to people dying base jumping ... he was pushing things so hard that it wasn't a huge surprise."

Mr King and Mr McCandlish last jumped together at Mangaweka, near Taihape, 18 months ago and Mr King said his mate was "a super guy" and "a top bloke".

He said he thought that Mr McCandlish's base jumping in Europe might have been "his last hurrah" to base jumping before he knuckled down to qualifying as a commercial pilot.

Mr McCandlish had been on a two-month trip around Europe when the accident happened, and had planned on returning to Taupo after his holiday.

Taupo Tandem Skydiving chief executive Hamish Funnell said Mr McCandlish had worked the summer seasons at Taupo Tandem Skydiving for the past four years and would travel over the winter.

He said that staff were still in a state of shock.

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