Robbie Maddison rider backflips over Tower Bridge
By TMX Archives on 13th Jul 09
Freestyle motocross star Robbie Maddison took London by surprise last night as he performed a spectacular backflip over an open Tower Bridge in the British capital. The 27-year-old Australian took to the air at 2.55am and soared nearly one hundred feet over the Thames.
LONDON, 13th July 2009. The early hours of Monday morning saw Maddison becomethe first rider in history to take on Tower Bridge on a motorbike. TheAustralian used the famous London landmark as a take-off and landing ramp as hecleared the gap above the Thames after the iconic bridge had been raised. Withan approach speed of approximately 40 mph, Maddison took off from the north sideof the bridge, performed a no-handed backflip, and held his landing in front ofthe south tower of one of the World's most famous sights.
Maddison joinedforces with Red Bull once again to make his UK dream a reality, having alreadychalked up the world's longest ever motorbike jump (106.9m), and the highestever vertical ‘stepup' at the replica Arc de Triomphe in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve 2008(25.9m).
Maddison said: "The whole experience was awesome. Since thejumps in Las Vegas I've been set on doing something special here in London sothe Red Bull team and I have been secretly scoping out Tower Bridge for months.We had a matter of minutes on the bridge and had to time everything to thesecond, there were so many factors to get right, but we pulled itoff.
People say I'm crazy, but I just want to push the boundaries of mysport and my body to the limit and I love taking on these huge challenges. Itwas an incredible feeling to fly between the two towers and over theThames.”
Maddison will return to London on 22 August to take part in thefinal stop of the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour 2009 at Battersea PowerStation.
Many people helped make this event possible, including VisitLondon (www.visitlondon.com) and the owners of TowerBridge, the City of London Corporation (www.cityoflondon.gov.uk)