Apogee Wiremill Jump Classic - 11th July 2004 Well, the weather didn't look too bad for the annual Wiremill jump, unlike the very rain interrupted jumping at Liquid Leisure yesterday. Some of the jumpers from yesterday had made the trip down to Wiremill for yet another 3 rounds today. The most interesting additions to todays start list were Tim Hazelwood, Jason Seels, Tom Asher, Will Asher and Damien Sharman. The most eventful round was round 1, Geoff Clarke from Ireland went out on his first jump and had a very nasty looking crash. Geoff had us all worried for a while as he lay very still in the water, but thankfully after being checked out by the First Aid, he made a good recovery although still sports a swollen ankle and chipped tooth. Oliver Hambrook did a similar thing on his first jump and ended up being taken to hospital, thankfully he too is ok, just a bit bruised. Just as we were all beginning to relax a bit, Stuart Marston also crashed badly on his first jump, he too was taken to hospital and has suspected broken ribs, and is being kept in for some further checks. (Liquid Leisure will be a bit stuck for a while with Danny Budd injured with a broken leg). We were all looking forward to the 4, 1.8m jump height skiers: Jason Seels, Damien Sharman and the Ashers (Tom & Will). After the first round Damien and Jason were joint leaders with 60.9m. Will Asher has been concentrating on his slalom lately, (very successfully), so chose to take it easy and make a single cut on his first jump. However much to the surprise of everyone, he too crashed, fortunately, his experience meant he was able to minimise the damage and land on his back, which meant he was not really hurt, just a bit confused as to why it had happened! Round 2 saw some very good jumping, Steve Critchley jumped 55.5m, bettering his pb from the day before at Liquid Leisure, Damien Sharman got a pb of 65.1m putting him in the lead and Jason Seels jumped 62.9m putting him in second place. Round 3 was also quite interesting. Steve Critchley again jumped further with a new pb of 56.4m (3 pb's in one weekend!). Tom Asher jumped 62.6m putting him in third position and Will Asher, who had decided to give up single cutting, but lower the ramp height to 1.65m instead, jumped 57.2m putting him fourth. The last 2 skiers out were Jason and Damien. Jason couldn't better Damien's score in his first 2 jumps and tried a little bit too hard on the third. He too crashed and needed rescuing, making a full recovery a few minutes later. Damien ready to jump on the jetty, saw Jason's crash, took off his skis and decided enough was enough - He had already won with his second round distance so it was a good decision! There was no explanation for all the crashes, there wasn't a tail wind and conditions were pretty good. I don't think the swimmers will be volunteering again for a while though! The boat judge and driver weren't too happy either! Cash prizes were won by the top 6 skiers: 1 - Damien Sharman - 65.1m 2 - Jason Seels - 62.9m 3 - Tom Asher - 62.6m 4 - Will Asher - 57.2m 5 - Steve Critchley - 56.4m 6 - Tim Hazelwood - 55.6m Steve Critchley also won the prize for most improved pb.