Shortlisted
Danny Way’s Way
Leo Holland, G
cannot wait to get this over,” Way thought to himself. And then he rolled over the jump…
stun
least five world
roup 2: Non-Fiction, French International School
Here is an amazing story about a man who risked his life to perform one of the most daredevil
ts known to both man and skateboard.
Danny Way is a self-taught Californian extreme skateboarder who has either broken or set at
records. He was born on 15th April 1974 and started skateboarding aged 4. Danny gained
sponsorship from Hosoi Skateboards and Vision Skateboards aged 6 and later on, aged 11, he won the first
competition he entered. In 1997, aged just 22, he dropped from a helicopter onto a vertical ramp and is still the
only skateboarder ever to attempt this. He named this the “bomb drop” which then became a skateboarding term.
“I
But dramatic stunts like this don't always have a happy ending. Way has had many crippling injuries in his
career including a broken neck in 1994, a dislocated shoulder and seven surgeries between 1999 and 2002!
Now to what really happened in Beijing. On 9th July 2005, Danny Way attempted a stunt only a very select
group of daredevils had ever done before. He wanted to jump the Great Wall of China! The jump was to take
place at 5:30pm, Beijing time. What added to the pressure? Although many sportsmen have tried the jump, very
few have attempted it without motorised help (the last person was a mountain biker in 2002. He died.)
The jump, the Beijing MegaRamp, is the biggest skateboarding structure ever built. It took more than sixty
workers several days in fierce heat to construct the ramp and it cost nearly half-a-million US dollars. Danny said,
“The structure was not very sound. It was literally moving side to side at least 6 inches, blown by the wind...
Before the jump, I tried to have a moment to think about all the good things in my life.” The MegaRamp,
measuring 61 feet across and 120 feet high, was built towering over the Great Wall’s Juyongguan Gate (a
landmark tourist destination). Danny was about to jump. In front of a crowd of several thousand, he hurled
himself into the ramp, went into the air, still on the skateboard, cleared the Wall, going close to 50mph, and
landed – minus skateboard. Danny, despite an ankle injury from the crash landing, went off to try his second
jump. This time he landed it perfectly and was going so fast, he flew up the other side of the ramp, going at least
12 feet high! But of course he still had 3 more jumps, so naturally, being him, he just had to add 360 degree
spins on all of them!
Why do we think he did it? He is not only crazy, he did it because of the huge challenge it represented and
in the hope of sparking recognition and admiration for skateboarding in China, as it is quite an unheralded sport
in the country.
It is interesting that all this took place with the blessing and cooperation of the People’s Republic of China
and after the jump, the Minister of Culture in China, Mister Wang Jianjur, gave Danny an actual piece of the
Great Wall.
Now, eight years later, he is still skateboarding after a 20 plus year career, but nothing beats the amazing
feat of bravery that took place at the Great Wall of China.
* * *
